It's Not What It Looks Like
by PumpkinView
Summary: Lenore Monday was never really a trouble maker. But one day, she accidentally gets detention, and ends up sucked in with all of Lee Ping's bullcrap of a life-She has to help this boy, and show him she's on his side-and not just because might be developing a few feelings for him...So now, she has to get detention. And all of this while juggling her questionable reputation. R&R!
1. This Conversation's Been Dead On Arrival

**A/N: So here's my first Detentionaire fanfiction. I worked hard for a few days on this, but I mostly finished it all today heh...and i finished it before Chapter four of TCBTS (one of my Penn Zero fics)**

 **Speaking of Penn Zero, my Penn Zero OC, Corona, actually plays somewhat of a part in this fic, since she's Lenore's cousin. Not a really huge part, more like she shows up now and again, and might be helpful, but she's there. In fact, this is actually where she was those 6 years she was away from Middleburg.**

 **Anyways, enjoy! (And review if you can, please!)**

* * *

Honestly, could today be a stranger day for Lenore Monday? Lenore nervously looked at the door of the detention room with a feeling of uncertainty of what lurked within. It was her first time getting detention-she was always well behaved-well, this detention wasn't for behavior-but it was something she certainly wasn't used to. And how unfortunate that this had to be on the _first_ day of school.

She still had a hard time believing what got her here in the first place, it was such a pointless reason to send her to detention. But yet, here she was.

~u~

It was a little after 8 a.m. when Lenore walked through the doors of A. Nigma high, making a beeline straight for her friends, Deidra and Ainsley.

"Hey." She greeted.

Deidra slightly waved, and Ainsley seemed to be absorbed in her phone as usual.

"Hey guys." Lenore said, as she leaned up against the lockers, greeting her two friend.

"Oh, hey Lenore! How was your summer? Is that a new top? Your hair looks _great_!" Deidra replied, practically giggling.

"Good, yes, and thanks." Lenore replied.

Ainsley continued to tap away at her phone, as if it were more important than the other 2 girls who were there. Until she looked up, just to say:

"Hey…Lenore, isn't that your cousin over there?"

Lenore shook her head. "It can't be, Corona goes to private-" Then she looked in the direction that Ainsley had pointed.

Lenore's blood ran cold.

Her cousin, who was just a tiny little freshman, looked lost. She also looked extremely out of place, with her school uniform (A. Nigma high didn't _have_ a uniform), and very neatly kept shoulder length black hair.

Lenore quickly sprinted over to Corona. "Corona, _what on earth_ are you doing here?"

"I'm going to school here."

"No, no, you go to the private school that's like…several miles from here."

"No…Jane cancelled that. She said she didn't want to pay the tuition, so I guess I'm going to public school now." Corona smiled nervously. "With my cousin!"

Lenore cringed. Not that she really minded her cousin going to the same school as her…it's just…she'd prefer that Corona _didn't_ learn of her reputation here…She didn't want her young, innocent cousin getting horrible ideas.

"Just…be careful, I don't want you getting eaten alive by public schooling…or something else…"

"What?"

"Nothing…Just…uh…remember that rumors you hear…aren't always true, okay?"

~u~

Lenore took a seat in her 1st period class. She paid barely any attention to the morning news, as usual, getting absorbed in this one sketch she was doodling in her notebook.

She didn't plan on paying attention either until…

"Ooh! Lee, Lee, Lee! The girl you want to have the kissy-time with! Tina!" said a voice from behind Lenore.

And then everyone in the classroom, except Lenore who hadn't been paying attention, started laughing. That did catch her attention however, and she turned around to where the voice came from.

She saw a boy with red and black hair attempting to hide his embarrassment with a book, Lenore assumed this was Lee. She also saw a blonde boy with long hair smacking himself in the face with a book, and she assumed that was the boy who revealed Lee's crush.

Lenore, unintentionally, made eye-contact with Lee, and she could sense how deeply embarrassed he was. She kinda pitied him. What if _that_ became his reputation?

She gave him a look of pity, before turning back to her drawing.

Lenore continued not to pay attention. All she really caught was that the principal apparently went missing, got replaced, and that's about it. Also something about some sort of assembly after lunch.

~u~

Lenore continued to draw throughout lunch. Her cousin came up to her and sat next to her.

Lenore didn't notice, since she was still absorbed in her sketch.

"So…do I keep staring at you until you notice me…or?" Corona asked

Lenore looked up. "Huh? Oh, sorry." She set her mechanical pencil down. "So, how's your day been treating you so far?"

Corona shrugged a little bit.

"Meh? Same here."

Then, a commotion caught Lenore's attention.

That Lee boy, from earlier bumped into one of the school's bullies, Biffy T. Goldstein.

Lenore cringed, did this Lee just have the worst of luck? She looked at him with slight pity again.

Of course, the Vice Principal just so happened to walk in and give Biffy detention, on the first day of school.

~u~

After lunch, Lenore, Corona, Deidra, and Ainsley headed to the gym, where all the other students were going, for the assembly that the new principal would be revealed at.

The four girls took seats in the metal chairs.

Lenore looked around, and surprise, surprise, she spotted Lee. Again. And he looked like he had to pee. Oh, someone help this poor boy.

Then, there was a sound of loud stomping...Stomping from the sound oof metallic boots? What was _that_ about?

Corona looked startled by the loud stomping noises, so Lenore put her hand on Corona's shoulder to reassure her.

Then a metal claw pulled the curtain on the stage back.

A cyborg man, straight out of a teen dystopian literature novel walked on stage.

Corona was frightened. Heck, Lenore would be lying if she said _she_ wasn't slightly frightened.

"Listen up, you little snot-nosed, baggy pants wearing, maggot covered, puddles of vomitized puke, strolling through life, like it's some sort of mini-mall…"

What a first impression. Did the school happen to order a military dictator on accident, instead of a replacement principal?

Lenore silently groaned as the new cyborg principal went on, and on, until ending up yelling at the 2 boys who had been with Lee, for laughing-wait…Where did Lee go? That was awfully suspicious.

And then there was beeping.

"Who…in….tarnation is beeping?" said the new cyborg principal…

And then some techno music started, and the lights went out…and just the most horrifying few minutes of life commenced. Paint, potato flakes, and worst of all, _vomit,_ was everywhere. Lenore saw Corona immediately take cover under a chair out of fear of all of this. Lenore then realized…

 _Oh shit, my drawing!_

But it was too late, paint, potato flakes, and WORST OF ALL, **_vomit_** now soaked the sketch she had been working on that whole morning.

Lenore was super pissed, to say the least.

"Who is responsible for this?!" Principal General Barrage asked, or rather, yelled and demanded an answer.

And then, Lee burst in.

Lenore glared at him.

The lights came back on.

Lee started laughing.

Lenore crossed her arms. Does this boy not realize the deep shit he's in?

"YOOOU did this!" Principal Barrage stomped over to Lee. "Not one day, not one week, not even _one month,_ you, boy, are sentenced to ONE FULL YEAR OF DETENTION!"

Lee had a look of deep fear.

Lenore uncrossed her arms. That look of fear…That look, looked more like he was taking the heat for something he wasn't responsible for.

"B-but sir! I was in the washroom the whole time…It couldn't have been me!" Lee desperately tried to defend himself, to no avail.

And then a stinkbomb went off in someone's backpack…aaand what do ya know? It was Lee's backpack.

Lenore was angry at him for ruining her drawing again.

And then a woman, who from the angered look directed at Lee, proceeded to ground him for the same amount of time he had detention for.

Lee had the look of deep fear.

Lenore now had mixed feelings. Was this boy innocent or guilty?

~u~

Lenore stomped out of the gym, Deidra, Ainsley, and Corona following behind her. Lenore proceeded to rip up the now soiled drawing in a fit of rage, making soiled paper confetti, which she just dropped on the floor.

"Littering in the hallways?" the Vice Principal so happened to see Lenore's fit of confetti rage. "Miss Monday, that is means for a detention." Vice Principal Victoria crossed her arms, and then walked away.

"SON OF A FU-"

Corona walked over, and Lenore immediately ceased saying that curse word aloud.

"Oh no…you got detention?" Corona expressed concern for Lenore.

"It's fine. Maybe I can slap that Lee fool silly for ruining my drawing-unless he _is_ innocent-though I have my doubts." She crossed her arms.

~u~

Lenore took a deep breath and entered the detention room.

Biffy was already there.

Lenore just took a seat and started drawing, waiting for Lee to show up.

And moments later, Principal Barrage threw him in.

Lenore was about to walk over and give Lee a huge slap on the face, but Biffy beat her too it-or so she thought.

"That…was the craziest thing I've ever seen!" Biffy exclaimed

"But I didn't do it!" Lee said, trying to prove his innocence, yet again.

"Well of course not, you don't have the devious mind, skills, or physical know-how to pull off such epic archaic chaos." Biffy replied.

"I could if I wanted to."

"Nah, it's just not your style, no offense but you're just not that hardcore."

Lenore wondered if Biffy was right. And then she spoke up.

"So, Lee didn't ruin my drawing?"

"You talk?!" Lee seemed alarmed by Lenore speaking.

"Uh…duh…everyone talks." Lenore scoffed.

Lee noticed the sleeping teacher at the desk. "What's his deal? Doesn't he-"

Biffy threw a ball of yarn towards the sleeping teacher, who did not wake up. "Nope."

Lee sat down. "I need to get out of here. So I can get this camera that proves I didn't do it-or…" Lee pulled out his cellphone and dialed a number.

Lenore got out of her seat and sat on the desk Lee was sitting at. "Who're you calling?" she asked, crossing her legs.

"My friend." Lee just replied.

Several minutes, and ringtones later, there was no answer.

"Camillio, pick up!" he whispered to his phone.

"No big whoop, just grab the tape after detention, then everyone sees you're cleared." Biffy suggested.

"Yeah, but it _won't be there_ after detention." Lee replied. "There's like…these psycho cleaner freaks in there!"

"…Well, escape is always an option…"

"Dude, escape? What do you want to be expelled or something?" Lenore questioned that idea.

Biffy and Lee looked at Lenore like neither of them had asked her opinion. To which Lenore just said "Sorry I had an opinion!" she got off of Lee's desk.

"What about sleeping ugly?" Lee asked.

"What is your obsession with him? I told you! He never wakes up!" Biffy walked over to the sleeping teacher. "HEY, YOUR FACE IS ON FIRE!" he poked the teacher in the nose. And then threw a desk at him. "Trust me. You could walk _right_ out that door."

Lee seemed to consider this.

"What about cyborg principal robo cop man?" Lenore pointed out.

"Yeah…what _if_ Barrage catches me?"

"Well, if we knew where he was, we could avoid him before he catches you."

"Yeah, and how are we gonna do that?"

" _Hello,_ it's the 21st century! I'll plant a confiscated phone on him, I can track his GPS" Biffy threw a phone at Lee, who missed, and it fell on the ground and cracked.

"Nice catch." He threw another phone at Lee, this time Lee caught it.

"Hold out both your phones."

Lee did so. "Biffy, why are you helping me?"

"I _could_ give you a beating, if you'd prefer" Biffy replied to Lee, in a menacing manner.

"I-I vote for helping!" Lee nervously said.

"Okay, they're synced, 43 minutes to get to the gym and back." Biffy said. He started setting up a laptop. "Man, this is like a spy movie or something. Wait…wouldn't that make me-"

"The computer nerd? Sure looks that way." Lee said as he left the detention room.

Biffy growled.

"Hm. So he's really innocent then?" Lenore said, kicking her legs up onto the desk she was sitting at.

"Well, _obviously._ You heard everything we both said." Biffy replied in a grunt.

"I sure hope he finds that camera. Then I can know who ruined my drawing, and I can smack them across the face super hard-"

"That's petty and pointless"

Lenore glared at Biffy in the same way he and Lee had glared at her earlier.

~u~

Most of detention was uneventful for Lenore. She was mostly waiting to see if Lee made it back in one piece or not.

"Dude, he's coming! He's almost here!" Biffy yelled to Lee on the computer.

Lenore figured Lee wouldn't make it back in time. "I knew it." She said, in a rather, petty fashion.

Biffy glared at Lenore. Then realized. "He's here!" he whispered to Lee on the computer. Biffy ran over to the door and held onto the handle so Barrage couldn't open it. "Wow, this door is really stuck. Bad….That's a bad door!"

"So bad." Lenore jokingly added, which resulted in another glare from Biffy.

"Open!" Biffy picked up the phone and whispered "Hurry up!"

The there was a rattling from the vents.

Lee seemed to be having trouble getting the vent open.

"C'mon!" he muttered

"Here, let me help!" Lenore whispered to Lee. She stood on the desk and helped him get the vent open.

And then Lee had that look of fear he had twice earlier. He gasped. "The tazelworm!" Lee unintentionally closed the vent.

Lenore glared at him. "Dude, c'mon!"

Lee used the light from a device in his hand to scare it off. And, apparently the vent actually _wasn't_ closed, because Lee fell out, only to be caught by Biffy. The device, which was apparently a camera, fell to the ground and shattered.

"Smooth move." Lenore teased.

Lee rolled his eyes.

Lee and Biffy quickly got into their seats, as the door slammed open, and Principal Barrage came in. He looked around the room.

The three teens tried to look as innocent as humanly possible.

"DISMISSED!" said Principal Barrage "And Ping," he referred to Lee, whose last name was apparently Ping, "We'll see _you_ tomorrow." He said, adding a laugh at the end. _Totally_ not creepy at all.

Lee had that look of deep fear, again, as Principal stomped out of the room.

When Barrage was gone, Lee hurried, and grabbed an SD card from the smashed camera.

" _Imagine_ what could be on here!"

"It could be a clue! _Or it could be pics from a chick's slumber party._ " Biffy smirked

Lenore scoffed. _Boys._ Lee seemed equally annoyed by Biffy's comment.

"Either way we win. Alright, see you tomorrow." Said Biffy

"You're gonna be here?" Lee seemed surprised by that.

"Yeah of course! Gotta finish my sweater." Biffy replied.

"Well, _I_ won't be here tomorrow." Lenore grabbed her stuff and left.

At least, she thought she wouldn't be…


	2. The Songs You Grow To Like Never Stick

**Chapter Two**

Lenore groaned as she threw her bag against the dresser in her room and plopped onto her bed and turned on her laptop, to check the blog-o-sphere.

" _That awkward moment when your baby cousin is going to the same school as you."_

She got a few likes. She continued scrolling, when her mother knocked on the door, and then walked in, sitting on the edge of Lenore's bed.

"I heard you got detention." Lenore's mother, Gloriana Monday, frowned. Gloriana was a tall, but plump woman, with dark reddish-brown, wavy hair tied up into a tight bun. Gloriana was a stay-at-home mother (as far as Lenore knew) but she was always dressed in a pant-suit for no explainable reason. Her answer being "it makes me feel professional", whenever anyone asked.

"Yeah, mom….It was a really stupid reason, I wasn't misbehav-"

"What happened?" her mother interrupted

"Well, today, some boy pulled a prank and it ruined my drawing and I ripped it up and threw it on the ground-I'll admit it was an irrational thing to do-"

"Hm...Just...Try not to get detention again, sweetie?"

"I don't plan on it."

~u~

Lenore was at her locker, when Deidra and Ainsley walked up.

"Hey Lenore! You're looking nice today? Where'd you get those boots? Your makeup is perfect!" Deidra squealed in delight, just from looking at Lenore.

"I'm in a majorly bad mood." Lenore slammed her locker shut. Which was the perfect cue for the Vice Principal.

"Miss Monday. Slamming locker doors? That is destructive behavior! Detention after school." Vice Principal Victoria said, before walking off.

"For the love of f-"

Corona walked up.

Lenore took a deep breath and held it, crossing her arms.

"Well hey, Lenore, think of the upside." Ainsley said in a monotone voice, not even looking up from her cellphone. "You get to see that Lee Ping boy again."

"How is THAT an upside?"

Ainsley looked up from her phone, with a blank expression that said both nothing, and everything all at once. "Well maybe he can save your reputation." Ainsley said sarcastically, and smirked.

Lenore was thrown off by Ainsley actually making an expression of any sort. She was also slightly taken aback by Ainsley's mention of her reputation.

Yes, her friends knew, obviously, but Lenore was slightly offended Ainsley would go _there._ Lenore looked down, and rubbed her elbow with her other hand.

"Oh look, there he is right now, why don't you go see if he has the glue." Ainsley pointed to Lee, who had just entered the school with his 2 friends.

"The glue?" Lenore was confused.

"For your shattered reputation as a w-"

Lenore flipped out and covered Ainsley's mouth, because Corona was there. She glared at Ainsley, making eye contact.

Ainsley pushed back. "Calm down Lenny."

Lenore scoffed. "Whatever. Just...just shut up about my reputation!"

~u~

An uneventful first half of the day finally ended, with lunch. Lenore took her usual seat with Deidra, Ainsley, and Corona.

She was enjoying lunch until a shrill voice…

"LEAPING!"

Lenore turned her head to see a girl who was wearing so much pink, she almost resembled a bottle of pepto-bismol, talking to Lee.

"It's Lee Ping! It's 2 words, Lee and Pi-"

"Hm, whatever! You and I are, like, the talk of the school. People want to see _us._ "

Something about this girl's tone towards Lee made Lenore cringe. She felt uncomfortable seeing her all over Lee. Lee looked pretty uncomfortable so that added to Lenore's dislike that began to form.

"You, and me, _together._ Eating, talking, laughing." she said. Lee hesitated. "Hello! _Now_!" she demanded.

Lee went with the girl, to a table, that strangely enough, wasn't that far from the table Lenore was at.

Everyone seemed to protest Lee's being there, and the girl argued back, adding in a personal jab to the arguer. (Who was a jock.)

The whole time Lee sat there, almost motionless, looking lost amongst these other teens who were clearly different than the crowd he was used to being around.

Soon enough, accusations seemed to be flying, from the jock, directed to Lee.

"What a shame his face will be pounded in before you get to put your lips all over it, Lenny." Ainsley quipped.

"What?!" Lenore gagged almost. Not that she found Lee unappealing, it's just that today, it seemed, Ainsley was being a bitch.

All of the jocks targeted one random, dorky looking kid and gave him a wedgie, to show Lee what they do to people they don't like. Lee had a look of fear that was trying to be hidden, as well as cringey discomfort.

Out of nowhere, a girl from a table almost halfway across the room yelled about her missing bag, which almost felt like a cue for principal robocop-I mean General Barrage, to burst in.

"Ladies and Degenerates, this kinda tomfoolery might have been fine and dandelions blowin in the midsummer breeze, last year, but," Barrage looked around the room, and spotted Lee. "Well! La di da!"

Lee looked alarmed.

"Is that a Lee Ping in _my_ cafeteria?!" he stomped over to Lee "Tell me, sunshine on a stick, what is a major malfunction preventing you from understandin that every free moment of your life is to be spent in detention?"

"What about...lunch?" Lee asked, with a small, and risky slight smile.

Barrage threw a hotdog on Lee's shirt, causing the boy to sigh.

~u~

Lenore groaned, as she entered the detention room. Second day in a row she'd inadvertently gotten detention, and she started to wonder if this would become a common thing. She took her seat. and not even moments later, Lee ran in, practically smacking into Lenore.

He flipped out slightly, and just barely caught her before she fell. They made at least a minute of awkward eye contact. Lenore blushed, but mostly out of embarrassment, which made Lee blush for the very same reason. "Sorry." He helped her stand up, an then he sat down."Barrage didn't show yet?" he asked Biffy.

When there was no answer, Lee awkwardly looked at Biffy. "Uh...about that burp incident, why did you act all…? ...Whacked about it…"

Biffy made a sound of "I don't know", before adding "I have a reputation to protect...I need people to take me seriously." he replied "So tell me honestly," he said before lifting up the small sweater he had finished knitting. "What cat wouldn't LOVE THIS?

Lee made a weird face. "I don't know...one with more than 3 legs?"

Biffy realized his mistake. "Aww."

Then, there was awkward silence for a few minutes. Well, not complete silence, there was the faint scratching of a pencil against sketch paper, which was obviously Lenore.

"...What are you drawing?"

Lenore shrugged. "You."

Lee peaked over Lenore's shoulder, and it wasn't a picture of Lee, it was a picture of some weird fly-monster.

"Real funny." Lee replied sarcastically, and then went back to waiting, and not speaking.

Moment's later, Lee's cellphone rang.

"Have you found the scabby handed bandit yet?" Lee asked his friend on the other line.

Lenore burst out laughing, earning a glare from Lee. "Sorry" she mouthed.

Apparently the other side said something weird and incomprehensible, because seconds later, Lee was staring at his phone, bewildered.

Only a faint voice speaking both english and some unrecognizable language at the same time, and some very faint static, could be heard.

"Principal Barrage is there? What's that noise?" Lee asked, scared, "Where's Cam?"

He pulled the phone away from his face, when Lenore assumed the person on the other end had hung up.

Lenore tried to resist about every urge to say some witty quip, or ask what that was about.

The latter action won out, however.

"So what even was that call about?"

Lee ignored her.

"Okay. Cool. Ignore me. Really mature." Lenore went back to drawing the fly monster.

Lee smacked his face onto the desk. "It's a COMPLETE disaster."

"What is?" Lenore

"No big whoop, that's what plan Bs are for" Biffy said

"What am I supposed to do? Run onto the football field to do this myself? _Right in front of Barrage?_ "

"Uh? Football? Helmets? Visors? HELLOOO!" Biffy said.

Lee wasn't quite getting it.

"But Barrage has his cyborg eye thingy-"

"That's eloquent" Lenore quipped.

Lee glared, and finished his sentence "What if it scans me?"

"Scans you? Ha, this isn't a big budget action movie!"

Lee looked back. "Right."

Biffy and Lee synced up, and then Lee climbed into the vents.

"So is he gonna do this every day?" Lenore asked

"Probably." Biffy replied

Lenore was bored. Biffy was guiding Lee around.

"Is it just me, or do things get boring here when he leaves?"

"It's just you."

"Hm…" Lenore continued to draw the fly monster. Then she started drawing Lee for real. She smiled, he was really cute-wait what? She shook off that feeling really quickly.

Why would she entertain those thoughts anyways, he was dating that annoyingly loud bottle of pepto-bismol glamazon. Her name was Brandy, wasn't it? And Brandy seemed the clingy type-Why even bother if Lee was spoken for by someone like _that._ Well, other than the fit they have being kind of amusing.

There was another problem-Lenore and Lee weren't quite on good terms yet, so what if Lee just assumed she wanted him for his status? She was a person with a reputation in need of saving, so he could easily misunderstand her intentions, and assume she only wanted to be near him for solely that reason.

Biffy groaned out of nowhere, and spoke to Lee on his laptop. "You guys done playing patty-cake? Cause you have to go. Like, now."

A few minutes later, Lee ran into the detention room, wearing football gear, which he took off and threw to the side. He panted.

Barrage burst in, and again, it was a game of "let's act innocent" for the 3 teens.

"DISMISSED!" Barrage walked away.

Lee sighed, and slammed his head down to his desk again, falling asleep.

Biffy dropped the cloth he'd been knitting on Lee, and then left.

Lenore didn't really feel right just leaving Lee sleeping there, because who knows when he'd wake up.

She let him get 30 minutes, but then woke him up.

"Huh?"

"You fell asleep when you came back in."

"O-oh...Oh crap, how long have I been out?"

"30 minutes. I didn't want to immediately wake you up, because you seemed really tired, but I wasn't going to just...leave you here."

"Thanks." He yawned, sat up, and stretched.

Lenore grabbed her stuff, and started walking out...but she didn't realize she'd dropped her drawing of Lee.

Lee noticed, but not until it was too late to catch up with her. He kneeled down and picked it up, and his eye's widened. She was a good artist, and he was flattered at how she had drawn him, and slightly blushed. Apparently she had a good eye for detail, because this drawing showed everything good about him-It was drawn maybe with a bit too much love put into it-Lee didn't think much of that, however. He put the drawing in his bag, and went home.


	3. Lonely Hearts Club

It wasn't until Lenore got home that she realized her drawing was missing. "Ugh. Great."

And what followed, of course, was a post about said missing picture. She sighed.

~u~

The next day, Lenore entered the school with Corona and Deidra.

"Man, it's only Wednesday, and I feel like this week has been utter crap for me." Lenore groaned. Maybe it wasn't utter crap, since detention the first two days hadn't been as bad as she thought it would be, but… "I just hope that getting detention doesn't become a regular thing for me." She said, not seeing the "wet floor" sign, slipping on it, and accidentally tumbling down onto another student.

"Miss Monday!" oh wow, what a surprise, the vice principal, yet again, walked up, giving Lenore detention, for tackling a student.

"I spoke too soon."

~u~

Lenore, now slightly sore, and with a detention after school, walked into her first period class, taking a seat and sighing.

As usual, the school news was on, Lenore didn't pay attention, and again there was laughing, and even Lee was in on it a little bit. Lenore continued drawing this time.

She overheard something about a student of the week, as well as the male anchor being annoying, as usual. Right when class ended, she took a glance at Lee, leaving with his friend.

~u~

Lenore was heading to lunch, when she saw Lee walking to detention. She walked over to him.

"Hey." She greeted

"Uh…hey?" Lee actually seemed pretty surprised to see her.

Bitch-I mean Brandy walked over, shoving a button into Lee's chest, making him exclaim in pain. "Leaping!"

"It's _Lee Ping."_ He said, removing the button and giving it back to Brandy. "Not-"

"Who is she?! Are you cheating on me?!" Brandy seemed offended by Lenore's very presence.

Lenore glared at Brandy. "Get a life, if I was trying to steal him from you, I'd be doing a lot more than standing next to him innocently."

"Listen, I know your reputation," Brandy glared at Lenore "And don't think I'm okay with you, like, totally macking on my man"

Lenore was enraged. "Don't you _dare_ bring my reputation into this! You don't know me!"

"Really? Cause I think the whole _school_ knows about it." Brandy smirked. "Especially Be-"

Lenore lunged towards Brandy, making her scream. "TAKE THAT BACK! DON'T YOU DARE BRING UP BECKETT!" Lenore screamed at Brandy.

" _Oh please!_ We all know nobody's boyfriend is safe around the likes of you!" Brandy quipped back.

"GIRLS! Break it up!" and the vice principal walked over, again.

"Miss Monday, I didn't expect to have to give you detention twice today. Attacking another student, again? Double detention for a week." Vice Principal Victoria crossed her arms. "Miss Silver, you may go to lunch."

Lenore groaned.

Lee was shocked by what he pretty much had witnessed.

Lenore, who'd just gotten detention for a whole week, sat on the floor, on the verge of tears.

"Hey…Uh…Lenore?" He stood a bit closer to her, holding out his hand, to help her up.

She sniffled.

"We should get to detention before Barrage-wait, crap…I have to look for the skaters…" Lee had just remembered what he'd forgotten, since that unexpected cat-fight, plus Lenore's misery about getting detention, had made him temporarily lose his train of thought. He took out his cellphone and called one of his friends. "Hey Holg, can you do me a solid?"

There was an answer on the other side.

"I'm not sure where Cam went…I need you to keep an eye on Barrage right now."

Another answer on the other side.

"Yea, sure…I need a sidekick to tail Barrage…"

Lee finished his call.

"C'mon." He held his hand out to Lenore again.

"Huh?"

"Come with me."

She took his hand, and he helped her up.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to follow these skaters for some answers…"

"What about detention?"

Lee sighed. "We have to go, now." He pulled her with him, but not gently in the slightest. They headed out to the parking lot, and hid behind a car.

"We're gonna get in trouble, Lee." She said with a flat expression.

"Don't worry about it."

"That's like asking me not to breathe!"

"Shh!" He spotted the skaters, and slightly stood up.

"Ping!" one of them called out to him.

He walked out from behind the car, pulling Lenore with him. "Hey, guys, about the prank…Can we rewind a sec? Did you really-"

"Catch me if you can!" one of the skaters said, another handing Lee a skateboard.

He groaned. "I've met SQUIRRELS with longer attention spans!"

He got on the skateboard.

"What am I supposed to do?" Lenore asked

"Get on, and hold onto me."

"W-what?!" Lenore blushed

He sighed. "C'mon!"

She did so. He skated after the skaters to catch up. Lenore held on tighter, the faster Lee went, because she was so scared of flying off the back.

"You're not gonna fall off, Lenore."

"MmmmmmmmmMMMmmm" Lenore was so scared of falling off that she couldn't even verbalize her fear.

Lee caught up. "Hey! The prank on the first day of school? You did all of that?"

"Just the paint part" one of the skaters answered.

"Nice choice of color! Radioactive booger green!"

"Choice? I didn't choose anything!"

"Yeah right! The E-mail!" said one of the skaters, slapping Lee on the shoulder, making him wobble a bit.

Lenore screamed.

"You're not gonna fall!" Lee reassured Lenore. "E-mail? WHAT E-mail?"

Another skater shook 2 cans of soda and sprayed Lee, which made him wobble again, and skate straight into a car. Lenore screamed again, luckily landing on top of Lee.

"SEE! I fell!"

Lee just groaned.

Then Lenore's worry kicked in. "Are you okay?!"

He groaned again.

The skaters skated over.

"Bro, your mom's SUV!" the skaters all laughed. What dicks, oh my god.

"SHE'S GONNA KILL ME!" Lee said, holding the broken mirror in his hand.

Lenore worried more for Lee. Lee tried putting the mirror back on.

Lenore remembered. "Lee, I have some superglue!" she took it out of her pocket.

Lenore had the habit of breaking her pencils in frustration when she drew sometimes, so she always kept a way to fix them.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Lee snatched the tiny bottle of glue and started gluing.

The skaters were bugging Lee about the "next prank".

"Yeah, uh, sorta in the middle of something here?" he snarked "It happened 2 seconds ago? You probably forgot."

"What do we do?"

"Yeah, tell us Lee!"

"Lee?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Lee snapped. "Look, you and the paint guys, dump some of it on the student of the week or something." He finished gluing the mirror back on, smiling a bit.

"Dude? On Live TV? Totally clutch! But…it's missing something…"

But the glue wasn't setting for whatever reason, so Lee pulled it off and started smacking the mirror onto the car.

"Lee, that's not how superglue wor-" Lenore got interrupted

"How are we gonna do it?"

"Whatever! Rig the ballot box, make it whoever you want, Barrage, even!" He got it to stick finally.

"That's perfect!"

"Yeah! But it's still cracked…"

"You kinda cracked it more when you were slamming-" Lenore got interrupted again.

Lee's phone rang. He gasped. "IT'S BARRAGE!" Lee panicked.

There was a faint sound of Metallic stomping coming closer.

Lee's friend waved to Lee from far away. Everyone ran, Lee and Lenore ran together since they were both supposed to be in detention.

Lee called his friend. "Holg, turn Barrage away!"

Lee pulled Lenore into a bush, and they both crawled, to head back to detention.

When they bumped into Brandy, who was with another of Lee's friends.

Lenore groaned.

Brandy gasped. "LEAPING! YOU'RE HERE! AND WITH _HER_ AGAIN?"

"Shh! Keep it down!"

"Don't shush _me!_ You told me that you have detention! But you were really running around with…with this girl! CHEATER!"

"I do! I snuck out so I can-"

"I'm waiting! Hello! Why are you-"

"Shh! Please! You have to-"

"ANSWER ME! CHEAT-"

Lee kissed Brandy. Lenore growled. Lee's friend just looked shocked.

"Oh, boy…"

Lenore saw a shadowy figure in the distance pop up, and appeared to take a picture, then run away.

"What was that?"

Lee stopped kissing Brandy, and grabbed Lenore's arm. "Gotta go." He ran off with Lenore.

~u~

The rest of the day, Lenore kept replaying Lee kissing Brandy. She groaned each time. She couldn't even explain how it made her feel. She shouldn't be bothered by this, but yet, here she was, replaying it in her mind, and feeling a pain deep down each time. She felt like it should have been _her._ But this could have been irrational. After all, Brandy was the one running her mouth, loudly, trying to get answers from Lee.

But Lenore still felt that tingling feeling of jealousy, pain, and almost rage, bubbling inside of her. It made her feel ugly. She didn't want to feel this way, for crying out loud, she barely knew Lee. But she also felt drawn to Lee, in another way she could quite explain. Almost like, she felt that they were meant to stick together, and that she was meant to be around him. Almost as if fate was trying to give her some sort of sign. Some proof that she and Lee were supposed to have met, supposed to be together, even if not necessarily romantically-although Lenore felt herself questioning if it was romantic feelings she felt for him.

~u~

Lenore entered the detention room, and was apparently frowning.

"What's the frowny face for?" Biffy asked.

"N-no reason that you need to know." Lenore just took a seat and put her head down.

"Boy troubles, huh?"

"What? How did you even know that?"

"I know everything"

Lenore sighed. She put her head on her desk again, and started crying. She didn't question the cat noises coming from Biffy's general direction.

Cat noise that suddenly stopped when Barrage dumped Lee in the detention room again.

"I wanna see suffering! OPEN FIRE! Clear?" yelled Barrage.

Lenore happened to loudly weep.

"She gets the drill." Barrage said before slamming the door.

"Are you crying?" Lee expressed concern for Lenore, frowning a little bit.

"No, leave me alone."

"Boy troubles" Biffy added in.

Lenore lifted up her head and glared at Biffy.

"Is it about Beckett?" Lee asked

"No…and I don't want to talk about Beckett."

Lee frowned again.

Biffy pulled out a cat.

"Mr. Rumplekittycat, this is Lee and Lenore." He said "Or as I like to call them, Smoochy-face and angst-girl" Biffy laughed, and then started voicing a kissy scene between Brandy and Lee, punctuating in his impression of Lenore's cries of sadness.

Lee gasped. "H-how'd you know about that?"

"Dude, it's me, I know everything! It's scary sometimes!" then Biffy did a play-gasp, pulling out a sweater, "This is for you! It's gonna look great!" he chased the cat around his desk trying to put on the sweater. "Hold still!" he put the sweater on the cat. "Okay, lemme get this straight, you're in love with Tina,"

"How do you?!"

Lenore groaned. Oh, Tina Kwee. Lenore despised her _before_ learning this development about Lee's interest in her.

Lenore always had a bad vibe about Tina-something just felt…off about her. Something fake, something grating about her very existence. She thought of Tina like that cold spot in a tv dinner that you know you cooked correctly-she felt like the discourse and cold, callous, casual destruction of the universe in the form of a person-and that was saying something since her co-anchor, Chaz, was doubly worse. Chaz was the human form of a migraine.

"…But you kissed Brandy, and you're gonna let Tina get nailed by paint, while she'll be interviewing student of the week? And don't even get me started on Lenore's feelings for y-"

"Yellow bananas. I need potassium and I refuse to eat a non-ripe banana." Lenore cut in with the first bullshit she could think of.

Biffy glared, as if she'd ruined his entire day by keeping him from spouting her little problem to the one person who really couldn't know.

She glared back.

Biffy continued talking to Lee. "Dude, kinda harsh. But, on the plus side, Barrage gets totally splattered. But he's gonna blame you, and you'll have detention forever."

"So…no matter what, I have to stop this…"

"But that means having to deal with those hyper-active squirrel brains again…"

"Just go tell them to drop it. They worship you. Then you'll be back right in time for tea and crumpets, because that's what smoochy-faces eat when they're not SMOOCHING!" Biffy added in more kissy noises.

Lee glared.

"Wait, Barrage confiscated my pal Holger's phone…can you track him through that?"

Biffy set it all up, and Lee left.

Lenore sighed again. She was much too sad to draw. She almost felt like she'd lost all inspiration, just from the sheer pain she felt in her chest.

She'd been with too many guys to count, and yet, one she hadn't even hooked up with made her feel this way. Lenore started crying again. This was so ridiculous. It was only 2 day's she really had known him. This was unreasonable. It couldn't be real…But yet…

Lee even expressed concern-sure it might just mean he's a nice guy, after all, he wasn't THAT hard to get along with-but maybe he felt something for her? She still doubted it. She tried not to entertain the thought that he'd be into someone like her.

It was just like Brandy said, she was a no-good boyfriend-stealer-well, actually…maybe it wasn't. Lenore wasn't that bad. She considered guys who were spoken for off-limits. So maybe Brandy WAS wrong…but still. She'd been with too many guys, so why would Lee have any reason to trust her, or like her that way? What if he thought she'd cheat on him? She would never dare-again, she wasn't like that. She was faithful and loyal. But no one really wanted to believe that just because of her reputation.

She despised Beckett for what he'd done…Art club just wasn't worth this pain.

~u~

"You gotta stop those guys before your could-be girlfriend, becomes your never-be girlfriend." Said Biffy, too Lee on the laptop. "Trust me, she won't look good in green."

Lenore groaned at that.

Biffy looked over to Lenore. "Trust me, he's hopeless. I'm just saying that to him to get him to hurry it up."

"Yeah, but…what even are the odds he's gonna stop being into Tina? I mean…I don't have interest in Lee, don't be ridic-"

"You don't have to pretend, I know you like him."

"Okay fine."

"And just because he likes Tina doesn't mean you don't have a chance at all."

"What do you mean? Like I said, he's not just going to stop being into her…"

"Believe me, he doesn't have a chance."

"Hm."

Lenore looked at her desk, and sighed again.

"Why don't you chase after him?" Biffy suggested with a smirk.

"What? No, I wouldn't, I could get in trouble…"

~u~

Lenore found herself walking down the hallway Lee was supposed to be in, looking for him, when she saw him enter the news room. She entered.

"You only did…part of the prank?" Lee asked the skaters, in confusion.

"Lee?" Lenore asked.

"Lenore? What are you doing-"

The thumps of metallic stomps were heard.

Lee pulled Lenore behind a box with him, which made her fall across his lap. She immediately shot up into sitting position, feeling that if she had stayed that way, he'd just think she was trying to throw herself at him. Her face was red with embarrassment. "S-sorry.."

"Aren't you on Barrage duty?" Lee asked Biffy through his phone.

And then a skater entered, and the skater's foot was stuck in a paint bucket.

"Hey guys! Up here!" the other skater called out

Some skaters started climbing up.

Lee darted over to his friend, who was almost unrecognizable in that superhero outfit.

"Holg, this is getting out of hand…"

Lenore just stayed sitting behind the box, thinking about how she'd fallen onto Lee so awkwardly. She clutched her knees.

"We need to-"

"Set prank up! Like fast bunny?" his friend asked him

"What? No! The opposite!" Lee crossed his arms. He glanced over to Lenore. "Hey…are you okay?"

Lenore was startled. "H-huh?"

Lee frowned. Then he told Biffy to make Barrage come down to stop what the skaters were doing from happening.

And then, metallic stomping.

"Guys! Forget the prank! I think I hear-Barrage!" Lee hid.

"Well! What do we have here?"

And then a bucket of paint fell.

Lee snuck out of Barrage's sight. He happened to end up right behind the box where he'd been before, where Lenore still was.

Lenore still seemed to be in some weird daze.

"Are you okay?" he mouthed.

She barely shook her head.

He frowned.

The news crew came in, bickering.

Then Lee's friend said something about running for your life on three. Which was a plan only he was in on. Lee gasped.

Paint was dumped on Chaz and Barrage's heads, offering Lee a chance to escape, however Lenore was still in her weird state. Lee sighed, and picked up Lenore, and started running.

"Biffy, what's the best way to get back?"

And Biffy told him. Lee went down the stairwell, carrying Lenore, moving as quickly as he could.

Lee busted into the detention room, set Lenore down in a chair, and took a seat himself.

Barrage was in moments later.

"Did you hear hoodlums running amuck?"

They all answered no. Biffy's cat mewed, and Biffy covered its mouth.

"ME WHAT?" Barrage demanded.

"I think he said _ow,_ didn't you?" Biffy said punching Lee.

"Ow!"

"And also sometimes we talk like we're cats. Meow."

"DISMISSED!"

~u~

Lenore was just about to leave, when Lee stopped her.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Lenore gave a non-committal gesture.

"You just seemed, out of it…I mean…I don't know." Lee rubbed the back of his head "But…if you ever wanted to talk…you can talk to me, okay?"

"Okay."

Lee reassuring put his hand on Lenore's shoulder for a moment, causing her to blush a little bit. He blushed too, slightly smiled a bit.

"So um…I'm gonna go home now…see you at lunch detention tomorrow?"

"Y-yeah…See you…" Lenore trailed off.

She went home and laid back on her bed, feeling frustrated. Why was she feeling this way about him? How will she deal.


	4. Everything We Do Is Bittersweet

After a night of sleeplessness, Lenore accepted, that she wouldn't deal with her feelings like a normal person, and instead, decided to try denial.

The worst that could happen when in denial is everyone just thinks she's delusional, including Lee. Best case scenario? No one even notices, she's successful in hiding her feelings (from everyone, including herself), and no one gets hurt.

That morning, Lenore sat down at the table in the kitchen to eat breakfast. Her mother put out plates of scrambled eggs for her and Corona.

Gloriana wasn't the worst cook, but, however, she wasn't _the best_ either. Gloriana had streaks of being distracted, which caused her to burn things. Thankfully, this morning, she didn't burn the eggs…But, there were some shells in them, so it still wasn't quite a "breakfast success".

Corona looked over to Lenore. "Gosh, Lenore, you look like hell this morning."

Lenore about choked on a bite of crunchy scrambled egg. "Corona…you just said…" Lenore was flabbergasted. Corona _never_ cursed. Lenore just about expected the announcement of the apocalypse a moment later. Which didn't happen.

Lenore was under the impression her cousin was 1000% percent innocent, purer than the fresh driven snow on a December morning.

"Hell isn't a curse word…" Corona raised an eyebrow. She didn't really understand why Lenore about had a heart attack.

~u~

Having not slept too terribly good, Lenore was in for a long day. She started to fall asleep on the bus, until her phone beeped. It was the tone when she received an email. She took her phone out. It was a poorly edited picture of Lee picking his nose.

"Was this made in MSPaint?" Lenore questioned. Her art-hoe sensing bad art senses tingled. She laughed. She figured that someone who had a problem with Lee must have made the picture. Seeing the picture, actually, temporarily got her mind off of both her innocent cousin's cursing, and her angst over Lee. Especially her angst over Lee.

Lenore felt calm, cool, and collected by the time she got to school.

As she entered the school, she was absorbed in a conversation with Deidra, Ainsley and Corona following close behind. When Ainsley suddenly jumped into the conversation.

"So, Lenny, did you see the picture of your boyfriend digging gold?" Ainsley laughed.

"That was so obviously made in MSPaint, Ains." Lenore rolled her eyes.

What was going on with Ainsley lately? It seemed as if Ainsley, out of nowhere, got a mean streak that just wouldn't seem to stop. And Lenore was on the receiving end of it. Lenore wouldn't have even been surprised if Ainsley had edited that picture of Lee.

Lenore rolled her eyes. She saw Lee and ditched Ainsley to go talk to him.

"It's a fake picture! No one's gonna fall for it. I don't have time for this." Lee happened to be saying to his friend, as he walked away from him. Lee of course was too busy focusing on his friend, who followed after him, so he walked straight into Lenore.

"Again?!" Lenore said, falling backwards.

"Oh…Sorry Lenore…" Lee helped her up. "Hm...you're the only person so far today who hasn't been grossed out by me touching you."

"I saw the picture Lee, but I know that's fake…it looks like a deviantArt MSPaint edit…"

"What?"

"Nevermind that."

"Hm…" Lee looked at her strange.

~u~

As usual, Lenore focused more on her doodles than class itself. She could hear Lee and his other friend having a small conversation during the school news.

Lee sighed in defeat, when the edit of Lee was brought up on the school news. Lenore turned and looked at Lee, giving him a similar look of pity as she had on the first day they met. This time Lee's eyes immediately flicked away from her for a second. Then he went back to trying to do whatever he had been doing on his phone all morning.

~u~

After class, Lenore followed Lee, but he apparently didn't realize it, since he was still absorbed in his phone. This somewhat made her think of a less bitchy Ainsley, which made her laugh, and Lee noticed her.

"Oh hey Lenore." He didn't look up, and just continued to mess with his phone. His friend from earlier walked up.

"So this booger thing could go two ways," his friend said "Bad, or _really_ bad."

"Dude! Enough! I'm trying to find out who sent the prank E-mail, and you keep yapping about…boogers…" Lee snapped

"But bro, we got-"

The Mathletes walked up. The one who must have been the leader threw a penny at Lee. "Penny for your snots, _Ping_ " he said in a haughty tone.

The Mathletes pretty much harassed Lee.

"Mathletes. Still working on the same-old math equation? What's it been, 6 years now?"

"You're just jealous! Cause one day we will solve the prestigious Pythagoras math problem and win that million dollar prize! _WITHOUT YOU!_ " the Mathletes walked off.

"Aww man! Even the mathletes are snipin' us! This is like, mucho disaster, dude!" his friend said, rather expressively.

"What Irwin make hate-cake for Lee?" his other friend asked

"Bro-o, our boy Lee used to be a Mathlete."

Lee had a flat expression. Lenore wanted to laugh, but she remembered, she needed Lee to _like her,_ and from his expression, laughing _was not_ a good idea.

"And Irwin and him were bestest friends back in the day." His friend added.

Lee just rolled his eyes.

His other friend gasped. "You wore sweater of nerd?! But you used to be friend? Now not no more?!" His friend was gasping so much, Lenore questioned calling the nurse about him having an asthma attack.

"One day, snug as 2 mexican bugs," his friend with the headphones said, in a very specific fashion. "The next day, dastardly enemies, so is the circle of life, dude."

"It wasn't like that! We never-" Lee cut in, but didn't finish his sentence. "…Circle? Radcircles, of course!" Lee face palmed, realizing something. He was so cute when he realized something-calm down, Lenore, you're supposed to be _forgetting_ those feelings. "I thought Radcircles was a skater term like… _Totally rad, dude"_ Lee said, in a fake-skater voice.

Lenore laughed that time. Lee looked at her for a second, then looked back to his friend.

"But it's a math-term, like… _Radius Circle_ " Lee said in a nerd voice.

Lenore laughed again, louder. Lee looked at her, laughed too, since he had pride in figuring this out.

"It's gotta be Irwin's E-mail address!"

"He _does_ hate you…" his friend added in.

"Guys…Holger say no losing friends here, okay?" his other friend, who Lenore now knew was named Holger, said. "Me desire Lee and Cam to be BFFs til the old man times." He held up a picture of the 3 boys as elderly men.

"What?! How come you get the cute nurse!" the other friend, who from context clues (who knew they were so useful!) Lenore figured was named Cam.

Lee stared at his phone with a grumpy look on his face. "UGH! If this is Irwin's email, I'm sure he's encrypted it to the tenth power of math-nerdom." Lee now had a look of frustration, which led to realization. "But…If I can get on his laptop, his password's probably already entered!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you are NOT gonna chill with Mathletes, bro! Not while our rep is down!" Cam seemed to be very protective of Lee's popular reputation of the moment.

"Dude, if I can prove that Irwin sent that prank E-mail, I can prove my innocence!" Lee said "Gotta jet, spare, I know JUST where Irwin will be." Lee ran off.

Lenore was alone with his two friends.

"Holger is curious who the lady who's been hovering around the Lee is?" Holger asked Lenore.

"Oh, yeah. Hi. I'm Lenore." Lenore just awkwardly mentioned. "I know Lee from detention…" she added.

"Whoa! Ese's been spending time with a hot Chiquita in detention? Man, _I_ should try getting in detention…nah" Cam said.

~u~

"Tweedle dumb, tweedle dumber, and tweedle dumbest. You sit there and think about which is which." Barrage yelled. "And not _one peep!_ "

Biffy's cat that he was hiding in the vents mewed. Barrage stopped angrily.

"Technically a meow, not a peep." Biffy said

Barrage stomped out and slammed the door.

Lee and Biffy sighed, and Biffy got his cat out of the vents.

"It's okay, Robo-meanie is gone now!" Biffy said, as his cat jumped onto his shoulder.

"Before you say anything, the picture is a total fake."

"Obviously, I can tell a bad paint job a mile away. But I gotta have _some_ fun!" Biffy smirked meanly. "Find any _gold_ up there?"

Lee looked angry. His phone buzzed.

"You gonna _pick_ that up?" Biffy laughed.

Lee answered his phone. "I'm here, Holger." Lee sighed. "Fine. _Jorfborf._ You heading to the mathletes' clubhouse? I'm gonna stop being-Forget it." Lee continued telling Holger what he needed to do. "Tell him you think I'm gross, that I'm a-"

Lee got interrupted by Biffy again. "SNOT FARMER!"

"-Booger picker." Lee sighed. "And that you always loved math, and itchy sweaters."

Lee continued to talk to Holger until, Holger apparently suddenly hung up.

~u~

"Lee side to jorfborf, come in jorfborf…" Lee kept trying to call his friend. "Something bad's happened. Holger would never not respond to _jorfborf_ …"

"It's part of the spy business, sometimes you gotta sacrifice a pawn."

"Holger isn't a pawn. He's my friend. A friend I sent in unprepared to do my dirty-work…" Lee frowned. "Let me call Cam…" From Lee's expression, Lenore could tell Cam didn't even pick up.

Barrage burst in, and the 3 teens had to act innocent for a few moments.

Lee got a text. "If you ever want to see your friend again, come to the math-room now…What?!"

"Uh-uh, way on the other side of school. Suicide mission buddy, Holger's a big boy, he can handle himself."

"Have you MET Holger?" Lee frowned again. "I gotta save him, he'd do the same for me! Not very well, but he'd do it!"

"Well I do have _one_ untested Barrage tracking tactic left…" Biffy put a tracker on his cat.

"Very resourceful" Lee commented. "But how's he gonna track down Barrage exactly?" Lee added.

"This bell goes around kitty's leg, and Barrage will follow the noise." Biffy sent out the kitty. "One day, they're licking milk out of your hand, the next they're heading dangerous spy missions."

"They grow up so fast." Somehow, Lee and Lenore managed to both make the same sarcastic comment at the same time. They both shared a glance, similar to the kind they'd have if they accidentally touched hands.

Then Lee headed on out to his usual James Bond-esque "spy" deal, and Lenore was almost immediately bored. It was amazing how, she'd literally be doing nothing when Lee's around, and do nothing when he's not around, but yet, it was only when he _wasn't_ around, that doing nothing at all was boring to her. Lenore sighed.

She wanted to say she was over the previous day's angst, but she really couldn't. She drummed her fingers on the desk. It made a slight patter, as you'd expect from fingers tapping on fake wood, and Lenore found herself at a loss for ways to distract and entertain herself. She smacked her head onto the desk-and then groaned, remember _oh yeah, that'd_ _ **hurt.**_ She groaned again for extra measure, just to get it all out of her system.

"Could you keep your moans and groans down? I'm trying to track Lee, here." Biffy rolled his eyes.

"I'll stop groaning when life stops being pain." Lenore snapped back.

"Oooh, what next? Are you gonna dye your hair black, start an emo band, and buy all your clothes from Hot Topic?" Biffy snarked at her.

Lenore glared, and rolled her eyes. She took out her drawing paper and a pencil, maybe art would take her mind off of everything. But, of course, all she could think to draw was Lee. She'd drawn a whole page of him, before immediately tearing it out, crumpling it, and tossing it away. She had to do _anything_ to get him off her mind, but yet, nothing seemed to work.

Lenore felt like she was fucking crazy. She couldn't get him off her mind, she couldn't distract herself, and this was all for a boy she'd met 3 days before. This was unreasonable, and irrational, but something about it gave her a rush. Something about the suddenness of her falling exhilarated her-this couldn't POSSIBLY be a healthy way to go about it-but she couldn't stop, she didn't WANT to stop. She sighed again, and put her head on her desk again, feeling slightly defeated. She wasn't gonna get Lee off her mind ANY time soon.

~u~

Before she knew it, Lee was back, he handed Biffy's cat to him, and sat down.

Barrage busted in before Lenore could even fully process that Lee was back.

"Have you seen a filthy little feline?"

They all answered no.

"DISMISSED!"

Lenore was the first one to leave, practically darting away.

Lee raised his eyebrows. Then felt something uncomfortable under his butt. He stood up, and there was a wad of paper in the seat. He uncrumpled it.

It was a whole page of drawings of him. He recognized Lenore's drawing style.

"Ooooh, someone got _looove drawings!_ " Biffy laughed at Lee.

"What? I don't think she's…IN LOVE with me…" Lee awkwardly said. He took the paper with him yet again.

~u~

Lenore followed her usual "getting home from detention" routine that had started, since these past few days. Throwing her bag at the dresser, with no effort to pick anything that was knocked off, up, plopping on her bed, and checking her blog either on her laptop or phone. This time it was phone. She got a text from Ainsley.

 _party 2morrow at Brandy's place_

Lenore was confused by that.

 _Since when r u friends w Brandy?_ Lenore added a confused Emoji.

 _im not. just letting u kno_

Lenore didn't entirely believe her but just texted back _ok_


	5. Pity Party

Lenore entered the detention room, and took a seat in the spot where she usually sat. She went straight to drawing. Lee entered, well, not really entered, but rather was thrown in by Barrage, moments later. Lenore had zoned out a little, since she was absorbed in her drawings, so she didn't even notice Lee walk straight up to her.

"So where are you gonna crumple those and throw them this time?"

"Ah!" Lenore was startled, and threw her pencil at Lee.

"Ouch." He replied. He wasn't really hurt, he just sort of got used to reacting that way, to the point of saying it about anything that hit him.

"Uh…I'm not drawing anything…" Lenore hid the half drawn sketch of Lee with her palm, but immediately uncovered it when she remembered that she could accidentally smudge it.

"Lenore, it's fine…If you wanted to use me as a model for your drawings, you don't need to hide it." He said, as he pulled out the two other drawings Lenore had done of him.

"You…you took them?"

"Yes…I didn't want to throw them away." He shrugged. "I can give them back to you if you want…"

"No…no…you can…keep them…" she said awkwardly. She looked down.

"…Thanks…" Lee rubbed the back of his head.

"I'll remember this moment when I give a toast at you guys's wedding." Biffy joked

Lee and Lenore glared at Biffy.

"Don't be ridiculous, we're not in love." Lee said flatly.

Lenore looked to the side. "Yeah…" she said, in a someone heavy tone, masking the fact that she kinda totally was. "Plus, even if we were we wouldn't get married…I don't believe in the whole 'institution of marriage' thing, tbh." She added.

"Hm." Lee just replied. He picked up Lenore's pencil. "Here, it fell when you threw it at me."

"Thanks." Lenore took the pencil and continued to draw. "So, you gonna do any spy things today?" she asked, with a small, but still noticeable, hint of sarcasm to her voice.

"I don't know, probably not." Lee shrugged, and sat down.

"Hm." Lenore finished the sketch, and handed it to Lee.

"What? Oh." He took the sketch from her.

"So when are you going to draw me?" Biffy asked.

Lenore rolled her eyes.

~u~

Lenore looked in her closet for something to wear to the party, when Corona walked in.

"I heard about the party." Corona smiled innocently. "Can I come with you?"

Lenore looked over, and briefly panicked for a moment. "No. No you cannot." She replied as calmly as she could.

"Why not?" Corona pouted.

"Because…Uh…You weren't invited." Lenore lied on the spot.

"But you were! I'm sure I can tag along!" Corona begged.

"Corona, you think you want to go to a party but…uh…these things are vapid as hell. You won't like it…lots of…fights…and alcohol…" Lenore lied more. Sure, there was a chance whatever drinks there could be spiked, and maybe a drunk fight would happen, but there was no guarantee. She just needed to scare Corona out of wanting to go.

"Yikes…" Corona looked scared. "U-uh never mind then…." She left Lenore's room.

Lenore decided on what she was going to wear, and left to meet up with her friends to go the party.

~u~

Lenore went to the street corner where she, Ainsley, and Deidra said they'd meet up. Ainsley was there, but Deidra wasn't.

"Hey…Where's Deidra?" Lenore asked, raising an eyebrow. She also internally groaned, since that meant she'd be alone with Ainsley's harassment.

"Deidra said she'd be running late." Ainsley said tapping away on her phone as usual. "We should go, she said she'd call me when she got there so we can get her in."

"Hm." Lenore didn't know what else to say about that.

They headed to the party.

~u~

Lenore was surprised that Ainsley got them in, and then suspicious.

"Ains, how did you?" Although Lenore had been to a lot of parties, she really didn't think she'd get into this one, because as far as she knew, Brandy fucking hated her.

Ainsley looked at her strangely. "You know me. I have _connections._ "

Lenore looked at Ainsley the same way. "Oh-kay."

When they entered the party, Lenore assessed the surroundings, and then saw Lee off in the corner.

"You should say hi to him." Ainsley snarked at Lenore.

"I wasn't looking at him…I was…eh…" Lenore didn't know what to say, exactly.

Ainsley nudged Lenore. Lenore gasped. Then she realized she was walking over to Lee, and she was almost there when-

"LEAPING! YOU'RE LATE!"

Lenore groaned because Brandy was going to snatch Lee away before she even got a chance to talk to him. Cam pushed Lee over towards Brandy's direction. Lenore groaned.

~u~

Deidra was so late, that she was anxious. Almost too anxious to call her friends. She entered the building, and hoped that maybe they just hadn't gone up yet. But a quick assessment of her surroundings wasn't quite working out in her favor.

She saw the Mathletes trying to convince security to let them in. She didn't see her friends anywhere. She bit her lip, when suddenly…

"Hello ladies, Holger ready for the disco party!" A really tall boy with long flowing blonde hair and chiseled features walked in at the perfect time. Deidra swooned. He was an angel who walked in at the perfect time, and smelled like…hm…what was it? Deidra found herself gravitating towards him.

Everyone in the room groaned, probably cause he smelled strongly of the scent, that in Deidra's opinion, was the most beautiful smell to ever grace her nose. She giggled.

"Did you BATHE in cologne?" the security guard asked him.

"How else to smell like man-flower?" he had the cutest accent Deidra had ever heard.

Deidra kept taking in his scent. Indeed, man-flower WAS the way to describe him. She smiled.

"Does man-flower have an invite?" the security guard asked, in a flat tone, whilst covering his nose.

"I'm with Lee Ping!" he answered, enthusiastically.

"Apparently so is everyone." The security guard said. The boy frowned. "You're stinking up my lobby!" the security guard threw him out. Deidra went outside, and leaned down to him, as he slightly cried.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Holger is fine." Holger sighed. He looked at Deidra. "You are cute, you have ears like small feline animal!"

Deidra giggled. "You like my headband?"

"Ja! It is the cutest!" then Holger sighed. "But how will I get into the disco party to make super fun dance times with friends now?" Then Holger got an idea and pulled out his phone. "Holger have idea-cake!" he called one of his friends.

~u~

Back in the party, Lenore was trying to find ways to get closer to Lee, and separate him from Brandy, but she was at a major loss of ideas on how to pull this off, exactly. Then she saw Lee alone Cam. Now she should make her move. She walked over to him.

"Hey, Lee. I've been trying to find you all night." Lenore awkwardly said, taking a seat next to him.

"Oh, hi." Lee slightly smiled.

And then Brandy walked over. Lenore cringed.

"You, leave, NOW!" Brandy said, with a tone of pure venom.

Lenore, admittedly scared of Brandy's yelling, walked away. But her fear melted into rage a moment later when she realized she shouldn't let Brandy just toss her around like this.

She watched Lee and Brandy talking, from a distance. She needed to cut in somehow.

But before Lenore could think of a way to cut in, both had walked away from the spot they'd just been sitting. Lenore groaned.

~u~

"It's Holger, Lee, H-O-L-Ger" Holger tried to call his friend for the 15th time, not that Deidra had been counting.

"So…is your friend going to answer?" Deidra started to worry. She had the horrible thought that Lenore and Ainsley thought she was dead.

Holger noticed her frown and put a hand on her shoulder, which made her smile, and he smiled back. Deidra was convinced Holger was an angel from above, without a doubt.

She'd must have been staring at him to the point of not paying attention, because then Holger was pulling her with him so they could attempt to sneak in with a group of people.

Of course, unfortunately, the two of them were caught, because the security guard caught Holger's scent.

"Man-flower!" the security guard chased Holger, who was pulling Deidra with him. They ended up going down what Deidra assumed to be the garbage shoot.

~u~

Lenore finally tracked down Lee. He was with Cam again, and then a camera was shoved at Lee, and that annoying Chaz was spewing cow-shit out of his mouth, trying to interview Lee. Until the Jocks, surprisingly, helped Lee? Hm, that's a development.

Then Lenore saw Cam point out Tina, to Lee. Lenore groaned. Once Lee starts talking to Tina, there was _no way_ she could cut in to talk to him.

But fortunately, Lee just called one of his friends on the phone.

Lenore sighed in relief, she could still make her way to him.

~u~

Holger's phone rang, as Holger and Deidra made their way around the dark, poorly lit basement of the building. They'd been trying to find a way to get to the party, but hadn't been successful yet.

Holger answered his phone. "Help me Lee! I am so scary!"

Holger's friend, Lee, answered him.

"Holger and girl named Deidra take garbage fun slide tube. Now where to go?" Holger looked around.

Deidra was practically clinging to Holger, because she was hella creeped out.

Then, some weird looking haz-mat like things showed up. Deidra squeaked in fear and squeezed Holger. Holger gasped.

"The crazy cleaning people!" he said in a low tone, which was either from lack of air from Deidra's tight grip on him, or just to not alert them that he was there in the first place.

Then, in a very not smart move, Holger asked them what they were doing there. And the security guard found them.

"There they are! Get them!"

Holger screamed, picked up Deidra, and ran.

"Sorry! I call you back!" Holger said into the phone while running.

~u~

Lenore sighed in relief. _Finally_ the perfect moment for her to walk over to Lee-nope Brandy ruined it.

Wait…Did Lee just tell off Brandy? And walk off.

 _Now's your chance…Just…_ Lenore walked over to Lee.

"I've been trying to talk to you all night." She smiled, and sighed, just a bit exasperatedly.

"You look frustrated." Lee commented, honestly, with a shrug. He seemed to be looking for Tina.

Lenore did her best to block the view, however. "So? How's the party going for you?"

"Hm." Lee shrugged. He realized that Lenore didn't want him to find Tina…was there a specific reason Lenore needed to talk to him? Was Biffy right? Did Lenore love him? Wait, no, come on that's just ridiculous. "Pretty good, now, actually." Lee replied, but was short about it.

"Oh…So…um…you want to da-"

Brandy stomped over. "No _boyfriend_ rules the Glamazon roost." She snatched Lee away before Lenore could even finish her sentence.

And now Lenore was pissed. She saw Brandy awkwardly dancing all over Lee. And she decided, oh she was gonna get payback.

She smirked in an almost incredibly cruel fashion, as she ran over, and literally grabbed Lee by the arm. Brandy looked angry, and Lenore smirked.

Another song started. "As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, want to dance?"

"Well…I'm not into dancing but…" Lee looked over and realized that this could be just _one_ moment where Brandy wasn't yelling at him and telling him what to do. "Okay."

 _She wants to dance like Uma Thurman_

 _Bury me 'til I confess_

 _She wants to dance like Uma Thurman_

 _And I can't get you out of my head_

Lenore started to dance. She was maybe going a little more seductive than she should have on a boy she was trying to prove she wasn't trying to just seduce for his reputation, but Lee didn't seem to protest against her. Lenore went absolutely wild, dancing up against Lee, her arms in the air. Lee just sort of awkwardly stood there, only slightly moving. He blushed a little, was she being inappropriate? He'd heard the rumors about her, yeah, but he wasn't going to just judge her. But was this proof?

 _Divide me down to the smallest I can be_

 _Put your, put your v-v-venom in me_

Lenore pulled Lee closer to her. Lee was surprised by her suddenness, and almost pulled back. He saw Tina out of the corner of his eye, and she looked rather…unamused. He cringed. Should he tell Lenore to stop dancing all over him? Especially since Brandy looked furious, and there _was_ her threat that she was going to tell Barrage…But at the same time, what if he insulted Lenore? He was at a 3-way cross roads, with each girl at the end of each road. He wasn't sure what to do, because choosing one over the other 2 could be…really bad for him any way he could go.

If he continued to dance with Lenore, then his crush would hate him, and Brandy would tell Barrage.

If he ditched Lenore for Tina, Lenore would be insulted, and Brandy would tell Barrage.

If he ditched Lenore for Brandy, his crush would hate him, and Lenore would be insulted.

He was, indeed, stuck.

Lenore didn't notice his indecision, however, and smiled at him. Lee tried to give a sincere smile back, but it was just awkward.

"C'mon! Dance!" Lenore told him.

Lee sighed, and started to actually dance along with her now. He was probably dead-meat, and Tina might also hate him, but he could _at least_ try to have some fun.

 _The blood, the blood, the blood of the lamb_

 _Is worth two lions, but here I am_

 _And I slept in last night's clothes and tomorrow's dreams_

 _But they're not quite what they seem_

Lee actually started to enjoy this. He was almost in disbelief. He wasn't too much of a dancer, hell, right now he was sure he was probably embarrassing himself, but something about dancing with Lenore was actually fun. He grabbed Lenore's hand and dipped her. She squeaked in surprise, but smiled.

 _I can move mountains_

 _I can work a miracle, work a miracle_

 _I'll keep you like an oath_

 _"May nothing but death do us part..."_

The song probably wasn't as long as it felt, but it was almost like time stopped when they danced together. In this moment, everything was going to be fine, he'd just work out the Tina and Brandy situations after the song was over…After all everyone was cheering, so maybe this wasn't bad?

 _You'll find your way_

 _And may death find you alive_

 _Take me down the line_

 _In Gem City we turned the tide_

Lenore was laughing, she was really enjoying herself. In this lighting she was actually really pretty…He smiled at her.

The ending riff of the song was there almost immediately, and Lee was snapped out of whatever fun he'd been having with Lenore when he felt himself get grabbed by the arm by Brandy.

His calm feeling was gone. He was dead-meat.

"LEAPING! How _dare_ you dance with her! YOU'RE GOING TO DANCE WITH ME! _NOW!_ " Brandy pulled Lee and forced him to dance with her.

And then the DJ announced: "Let's bring it down, and dedicate this song to the Cloud 9 couple!"

A spotlight shined on Lee and Brandy.

Lenore rolled her eyes. As _if_ they could be called a couple. Brandy borderline forces herself on Lee, there was no way that was a good "relationship."

Then, Lee and Brandy got closer to each other, to slow dance. A picture of Lee kissing Brandy was on the screen.

Lenore frowned. She hated seeing that happen in real life, so seeing the picture just made her-wait, how was there a picture of that? Was it that shadowy figure Lenore had seen in the distance…did that person take the picture, that made her relive the moment when all of her Lee angst had begun?

Lenore couldn't bear to see Lee and Brandy together, so she sighed, and started looking for a place to sit, walking over to the corner where she saw a couch.

"Haha, you whore! You really thought the master prankster would have _any_ interest in you?" a douchey sounding voice, from an indiscernible source, yelled at her. Lenore looked down, sighing.

"Yeah, slut! No one wants you! You're like a used tissue." Another person yelled at her.

Lenore rubbed her elbow with her other hand, as she sat down. She could feel the tears coming.

Her reputation seemed to catch up to her, right now. She sniffled. She could feel the warm tears rolling down her cheek, she hid her face in her hands. All people cared about was her reputation, and they were right.

Who'd want the school's whore? No one. She felt as if she had no value-everyone else told her this, so it must be true…After all, if the whole world agreed she was nothing more than a worthless slut…wouldn't that be the case then?

Hell, even earlier, when she tried to talk to Lee before Brandy snatched him, he'd been looking right over her shoulder, for that Tina Kwee girl…He didn't want to talk to her.

That dance probably meant nothing to him. Sure, he'd laughed, and smiled with her, but he could have been faking it…They'd all faked it…They'd faked it just to use her…That's what Beckett did.

Lenore hugged her knees. What a night to feel unwanted. It was a party, she should be happy, and having a good time…But she wasn't. She was now sobbing. She wanted to go home…But she couldn't leave yet, she just knows the rumors would be flying, come Monday morning…They'd talk about the Lee Ping the heartbreaker turning down the school's whore.

The love song that was playing was just making Lenore's mood worse. She took out her phone and put in her earbuds, and turned on something obscure and indie, and turned the volume all the way up. She had to drown this out…Maybe she could just…forget her feelings for a moment…

~u~

Lee was startled by the zombie like people all around him, and they only looked creepier in the green lighting. This was strange. Everyone was just standing around with blank like looks on their faces.

"Let me hear you whoop whoop!"

Everyone did as he said.

"Everybody get down!"

Everyone did that…rather literally. Aaaand Lee was startled.

Lee looked around, what was going on?

"Weird…Uh…Get on up?"

Everyone got up. Lee was really freaked out.

"Get on down?"

They did it again.

"Go crazy?"

Everyone started trashing the place. Lee freaked out, he looked around again. He saw Lenore sitting in the corner, with tears in her eyes. Why wasn't she affected?

"Stop! Stop, just…dance…" Lee panicked. He saw the DJ and felt suspicious. But first thing's first he had to see why Lenore wasn't affected…He walked over to her, and noticed that she really _was_ crying.

"Whoa, are you okay?"

No answer.

"Lenore?"

Still nothing.

"WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?" Barrage's voice boomed over the speakers, and suddenly everyone seemed to be back to normal.

Lee was still trying to get Lenore's attention.

"LENORE!" he practically shouted.

Lenore took out her earbuds. "What?" she sniffled.

Lee sat down next to her. "Okay, first and for most…are you okay?"

She glared at him, which made him uneasy. This was unlike her.

"Oh wouldn't you like to know? What, Lee Ping the heartbreaker, you don't want me to hate you?" she snapped at him.

Lee frowned. "Lenore, seriously…You didn't honestly think I'm into Brand-"

"Listen, Lee! I don't have time for your heartbreaking bullshit!" she stood up and walked away from him.

"Lenore…" he frowned.

He sighed a little. _Girls._ They were so confusing. She liked him not even 20 minutes ago, they were happy, and dancing. But she was angry at him now? What could have-well the picture of him and Brandy kissing, could have, but…

Lee stood up. Now he had to find out what the deal with that song was.

He walked over to the DJ. "Lynch, right? Where'd you get that song?"

"Cyrus from the Dudes of Darkness slipped me _that_ doozy…Said it was TOP of the pops!" Lynch said, overenthusiastically.

"Cyrus? Really? Notice anything _weird_ about it?" Lee asked.

"If you mean getting funky on the floor, then yeah, it's crazy weird!" Lynch waved his hands all around. Then he picked up a can of Green Apple Splat. "Want a can of Green Apple Splat? It's the splattiest!"

Lee made a gesture saying that he'll pass.

~u~

Lenore couldn't believe what she'd done…She'd almost YELLED at Lee. Maybe she was too harsh, sure she was hurt, but…Really did she need to call him a heartbreaker? He made the effort to explain himself to her, she should have just heard him out. But yet, she'd been a bitch to him for no real good reason. She felt a strong regret. Maybe she should find him…

"Back by popular demand, a request, here it is again, brought to you by the only drink that will make you splatatatat! Green Apple Splat!"

A techno song started, and Lenore felt distant. She couldn't move. She was almost a prisoner in her own body. She could breathe. But she couldn't blink. She couldn't move. She was trapped, and had to face her own subconscious…

~u~

Lee saw Lenore standing out in the middle of the dancefloor, holding her phone, with a blank look on her face. He walked over. He couldn't have her hating him, she still had 4 more days in detention with him, and having her hate him could be…well, uncomfortable, for one thing. And plus, what if she told Barrage? He didn't need both Brandy AND Lenore making threats towards him.

He walked over to her.

"Lenore, can we just…start over here?"

"Start over." Lenore replied in a drone. A drone that sounded pretty ridiculous, considering the fact that she had a southern accent. Just imagine a southern robot-NO, not Barrage. Imagine a _friendlier sounding_ southern robot.

"Lenore? Um…are you okay? Maybe you should sit down…"

"Sit down." Lenore threw herself onto the floor.

Lee's eyes widened.

"Oh…this again…" he face-palmed.

~u~

Holger and Deidra were now on the top of the building.

"Lightings, cameras, actions!" Holger said, looking over the edge.

Deidra slightly shivered. She hated heights so much.

And then, the worst possible thing. The security guard caught up with them. Again.

"Got you cornered, Man-flower and kitty ears!"

Holger giggled. "More idea-cake."

"You…you aren't gonna jump are you-"

Holger was on the edge. He held out his hand for Deidra.

"Do not have worry-cake"

Deidra sighed and took his hand and stood on the edge as well.

"Bye!" Holger said to the security guard, as he grabbed Deidra and jumped down onto the window washing platform thing.

"Going down!" he said, pulling a lever. The platform went down. And then he totally passed the party. "NOOO!" he pulled the lever again to make it go back up. They were at window level with the party. "Holger say party-time! Going nuts!"

"We made it!" Deidra squealed

Inside, everyone cheered.

~u~

Everyone was again, going crazy and trashing the place.

Lee frowned.

And then Barrage's voice boomed over the speaker again.

Lenore had control again. "Why am I on the floor?"

"Well-" Lee helped Lenore up.

Holger ran in, Deidra following shortly behind.

He talked to Lee, which made Lee realize, it was time for him to go.

"Oh no…It's past 11! I'm so busted!" Lee ran out.

Everyone chanted his name. Lenore sighed.

Deidra walked over.

"Oh, hey Deidra." Lenore sighed again. "Where were you?"

"I was with a Scandinavian hunk of man-flower." Deidra practically sighed dreamily. Then she noticed Lenore's sadness. "Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" Deidra's concern for Lenore overruled whatever crush Deidra had begun to develop on Holger.

"I-It's nothing." Lenore went and sat back on the same couch she'd sat on, and rested her head in her hands. She felt fucking horrible.


	6. The Aftermath

_Lenore was in detention, again, and drawing, when Lee walked in._

 _"_ _Lenore, about Friday night…" Lee sighed "I'm not into Brandy." He sat on her desk. "I'm not into Tina, either…"_

 _"_ _What?" Lenore looked up._

 _Lee smirked. "No…I'm in love with_ _ **you.**_ _" He smirked even more._

 _Lenore breathed heavily. Lee pulled her into standing position, and mashed his lips onto hers, moving his hands onto her waist, holding her tight, offering her security, safety, the warmth and love she'd never had in a relationship prior, but had longed oh so desperately. He was giving her, her greatest desire. Him. She wanted to cry tears of joy…She gripped his shirt, she needed him. And the kiss…It was so warm, and sweet it didn't even feel real-BECAUSE IT WASN'T!_

Lenore suddenly shook awake. She was met with an unfamiliar pink ceiling; she knew this wasn't her room. She turned to see an unfamiliar guy next to her fast asleep. She realized, she was barely covered by a sheet, and under that sheet…she was naked. She groaned.

It happened again. She remembered the party, and now she remembered hooking up with this guy.

She'd been sitting down, when he sat next to her. All he did was say "hey", and somehow it turned into making out, and then, the boy took her to what she assumed was Brandy's room, and it went straight to fucking.

Just another meaningless guy, that she had meaningless sex with. Sure, there was nothing wrong with hookups with no deeper commitment, but that's not what Lenore wanted for herself.

This is what her life had become. Here she was. She was only 15, and her life had become the circle of whoredom. She started crying. She got out of bed, and wrapped the sheet around her body. She needed to find her clothes. She sniffled more, the tears blocking her vision. She eventually found her clothes, and put them on. She headed home.

She cried more, when she got there.

She wanted to prove to herself, and more importantly, to Lee, that she wasn't what others said she was. But that hookup last night was a mistake. Now that she thought of it, most of her hookups were mistakes. Why did it take _Lee Ping_ to realize it?

Oh, she knew. It's because, for some reason she couldn't quite place, she had some weird kind of obsession with him.

What was it about him? He was so tall…And handsome as hell… _Dammit don't get mushy!_

Corona walked in.

"Lenore, I heard you crying…Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine…" she sniffled.

"You don't sound fine." Corona sat on the edge of Lenore's bed.

"Okay, fine! I'm not okay!" Lenore snapped.

Corona frowned.

"I-I'm sorry…Ugh! I'm a mess!" Lenore hugged her knees.

"What's wrong?"

Lenore internally panicked. What should she tell Corona? Well…she could say it's a boy…that won't give it all away…

"It's a boy." She stated flatly.

"Oh. I don't have any experience with that…" Corona frowned more. "Though I kinda wonder what it'd be like to have a boyfriend…" she sighed dreamily.

"A lot of trouble." Lenore just cried more.

Corona hugged Lenore. "Don't worry, it'll be okay."

"No it won't!" Lenore sobbed more.

Corona frowned again. "Do you want to be alone?"

"Yes."

Corona sighed and left the room.

Lenore spent the rest of the day, in bed, crying.

Maybe the new week would offer her some peace…just maybe….


	7. Surprisingly Not a Disaster

Monday came along and Lenore was not feeling back to herself. She walked into the school, feeling like her world was finally collapsing all around her, and put her stuff in her locker, adding in another sigh, to punctuate the inner angst she was feeling. She wasn't feeling herself even the slightest bit. She didn't know how to deal with this.  
"Hey, Lenny, don't feel down, we have a show to do today" Ainsley commented, noticing Lenore's look of sadness.  
"What?"  
"Battle of the bands is today!" Deidra giggled.  
"I have detention."  
"Oh, so you're gonna _ditch_ us, letting us CRASH AND BURN…" Ainsley guilted Lenore.  
" _Because I have detention, which I don't have a choice on!_ " Lenore felt frustrated. How could Ainsley just _not_ understand the words coming out of her mouth?  
"Well, Miss Monday, you're in luck." Vice Principal Victoria came out of the woodwork, like a seemingly friendly, but still fairly intimidating snake. "Since your friends signed up for the battle of the bands before you were assigned the week of detention, you get out for today. However, that means your sentence is a day longer."  
Lenore sighed. She didn't really want to do this. She never sang in front of others. Her friends said she had a good voice, and she didn't really argue about that, but she was fucking terrified of people watching her sing. She didn't really mind people watching her dance, or staring at her in general, but SOMETHING about them watching her sing just…terrified her.  
"C'mon, we need to get to the news room, they're interviewing the contestants of the Battle of the Bands." Ainsley grabbed Lenore and pulled her.  
Lenore gave a slight defeated groan and followed Ainsley. Of course, Ainsley was pulling so hard that Lenore couldn't keep up and was still being dragged along.  
~u~  
Lenore groaned, as she, Deidra, and Ainsley waited to be interviewed. Tina and Chaz were currently interviewing the Glamazons.  
"Brandy, is it true you lipsync? Oh, and what's it like living in Kimmie's shadow?" Tina asked, and although her voice was neutral in tone, you could just sense the air of snark coming from her.  
"You're cute when you're trying to be tough. But I can't really take your hair seriously." Brandy snarked back.  
Then Chaz got an evil look, and grabbed Lenore, who tried to protest and pulled her over to the brewing catfight.  
"And now we go to Lenore, who's been around the block a few times." Chaz said.  
Almost immediately, Tina turned to Lenore and shoved a microphone in her face.  
"Lenore, is it true that you have no respect for people's boundaries?"  
"If anything I'd say it's Y'ALL who got no respect for boundaries…." Lenore snarked, in a hushed tone.  
"What was that?"  
"Get out of my face, Kwee." Lenore walked away.  
Chaz made a loud "Ooooh" noise. "It seems like we've got some DRAMA! That should heat up the competition. I'm team Lenore."  
Tina looked at Chaz, with a face of pure venom. Chaz just smirked.  
~u~  
They played the footage from the interview in first period. Lenore was fairly embarrassed, but Lee's Nordic friend's comment only made things worse.  
"Girls no want to make nice…All three have the thing for Lee Ping!"  
But luckily, Lee had sense about it.  
"Heh. Yeah, right." Lee just brushed it off. Then Lee went to the "bathroom."  
Lenore distracted herself with her doodling. She had a feeling that everyone in the class was staring at her, and likely, that was the case.  
By now, everyone knew of Friday night's incident. Rumors were flying about what kind of things Lee and Lenore were getting up to in detention. And, of course, said rumors were enough, that when class ended, and Lenore passed Brandy in the hallway, Brandy tripped Lenore. Lenore fell over, which resulted in cruel giggles from the Glamazons. Lee saw and helped her up.  
"Darn those fucking Glamazons and their stupid fucking…" Lenore grumbled under her breath.  
"I'm sorry that Brandy is targeting you." Lee tried to apologize for his "girlfriend's" actions. He still, obviously, didn't consider Brandy his girlfriend.  
Lenore tried her best to go along with her day as usual. At lunch, she and her friends went to practice in the hallway. Lenore wasn't too sure about the song her friends had picked though. Luckily, it was a song she knew well, so there wasn't much worry about having to memorize words, but still. It was the dance moves that gave Lenore trouble.  
"Lenore, we're performing in front of the school, which _includes faculty,_ stop dancing like you're on the pole!" Ainsley would continuously shout at Lenore, whenever Lenore's movements just got a little too suggestive.  
"I'm sorry! I'm TRYING! You're putting ALL OF THIS PRESSURE ON ME LAST MINUTE!" Lenore snapped.  
"Whoa, now…calm down!" Deidra tried to calm Lenore, to no avail.  
"BOTH OF YOU! I DIDN'T WANT TO DO THIS! I'D RATHER….I'D RATHER BE IN FUCKING DETENTION!"  
Both Deidra and Ainsley stared at Lenore in shock, with huge frowns on their faces. Lenore stomped away, very peeved, and went all the way down to the detention room, and went in, slamming the door behind her, which gave Lee a fright.  
"I thought you got out of it today because of the Battle of the Bands."  
"It's probably off." Lenore said, with a still very angry tone.  
"…you sound angry…"  
"I AM." Lenore snapped. She sat on Lee's desk. "My friends just put ALL of this pressure on me last minute and expect me to be perfect! Who does this! They didn't even give me a fucking warning! Like if you're gonna pressure me into something I don't want to do AT LEAST LET ME KNOW FIRST!" Lenore ranted.  
Lee just listened, and gave slight nods of acknowledgement.  
"And then they judge me on my dancing! I'm actually PUTTING IN EFFORT TO THIS STUPID SHOW I DON'T WANT TO BE A PART OF AND THEY YELL AT ME!" Lenore was really wound up.  
Lee was considering bringing up his own personal issue of the moment, involving having to figure out the deal with the prank song, acquiring a copy, and fixing the Dudes of Darkness so he could still have Biffy's help-and even with that big lot on his plate, he still felt that just wasn't enough to interrupt Lenore while she was ranting.  
After all, Lee still wasn't quite sure what terms he and Lenore were on, due to the incident at the party on Friday; For all he knew, she could still be VERY angry at him, and him saying the wrong thing could make her snap at him as well, and he didn't want that. She didn't seem like the type to do it, but he was still scared she might tell Barrage that he'd been sneaking out of detention, and obviously that would be bad.  
Plus, Lenore had started to grow on Lee-he enjoyed her company, and they seemed to get along well enough. He was sure that as long as she was on his side, she'd help him. He didn't really care that much about her reputation. He always felt the whole "reputation" thing was stupid and pointless, as it didn't always accurately reflect the kind of people that they actually were. From what Lee knew, Lenore wasn't the "sultry and seductive man-stealing whore" that the whole school liked to make her out to be. Yes, her dancing on Friday could have swayed him to think it was true, but other than that, she was neither sultry nor seductive to him. Not even once had she tried to bed him, in the whole week they'd known each other, when, according to rumors, she would have tried to get in his pants immediately after meeting him.  
Lee had zoned a little, while thinking about this.  
"Um, hey! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?" Lenore said, very loudly.  
Lee shook out of it. "Sorry. Anyways, I'm sorry your friends are doing this to you."  
Lenore gave off an exasperated sigh. "I wish they'd just…let me be." She hugged her knees, giving off another sigh. She was glad that Lee at least listened to her. That was more than she could say _of her own friends._  
The lunch period ended and Lenore and Lee parted ways for their next classes.  
~u~  
Lenore was backstage, and nervous as fuck. She'd talked to her friends, and it was too late to back out, so they still had to perform. The outfit her friends picked was tight and itchy. Lenore didn't mind the tightness, but she sure as fuck minded the itchiness. She wore a sparkly headband, and high heels, and desperately hoped she didn't trip in them, since she wasn't used to wearing heels. Lenore was actually, surprisingly, feeling confident about this. Lenore and her friends were up next, and they were the second to last to perform, as there were only two groups left after theirs. She paced backstage, just to cool her nerves a little, and then bumped into someone.  
He had blue hair, and wore shades, despite backstage being really dark. He was dressed really weird.  
"Sorry!" she and the stranger both said at the same time.  
Lenore recognized that voice.  
"Wait a second…" she leaned close "Lee?" she said in a hushed tone.  
All her confidence that she had built up, was now gone in the blink of an eye.  
"Heh…Hey…" he said.  
Then it was Lenore's group's turn. Lenore was now panicking, as Ainsley dragged her on stage.  
Lenore stood awkwardly on stage, as the music started. Lenore was breathing heavily, and when it was time to sing, her voice started off awkward, wobbly, and breathy due to her nerves.  
" _Everyday I feel the same_  
 _Stuck, and I can never change_  
 _Sucked into a black balloon_  
 _Spat into an empty room_  
 _But was it really worth it?_  
 _Did I really deserve it?_  
 _It happens when you're hurting_  
 _And cut me at the surface_  
 _Of my heart_  
 _Of my heart-heart-heart_ " she awkwardly sang out. She completely forgot the choreography, and just stood in the middle of the stage, as a pink spotlight in the shape of a heart was shining on her. She was breathing heavily as she sang the chorus.  
" _I'm living dead, dead, dead, dead_  
 _Only alive-live-live-live_  
 _When I pretend-tend-tend-tend_  
 _That I have died, died, died, died, died, died_  
 _I haven't lived life_  
 _I haven't lived love_  
 _Just bird's eye view_  
 _From the sky above_  
 _I'm dead, dead, dead, dead_  
 _I'm living dead, dead, dead, dead_  
 _Dead"_ The crowd began to get a feel for Lenore's singing, so there was a little bit of cheering, and whistling.  
Tina watched, with a glare. She was secretly enjoying Lenore's singing, but she wouldn't admit this. From backstage, Brandy gave a low growl. How DARE Lenore be more talented than her.  
" _Got bubble wrap around my heart_  
 _Waiting for my life to start_  
 _But everyday it never comes_  
 _Permanently at square one_  
 _When it's late at night-ight_  
 _I'm so dissatisfied-ied_  
 _The weight of an empty life-ife_  
 _Will lessen in the moonlight_  
 _In the light_  
 _In the light-light-light_ " Lenore herself was feeling the song too and started to dance a little. It was a bit awkward but she was feeling it, and no one seemed to care her moves were a little awkward. What they really liked was her voice.  
" _I'm living dead, dead, dead, dead  
Only alive-live-live-live  
When I pretend-tend-tend-tend  
That I have died, died, died, died, died, died  
I haven't lived life  
I haven't lived love  
Just bird's eye view  
From the sky above  
I'm dead, dead, dead, dead  
I'm living dead, dead, dead, dead  
Dead_"  
Lee, who was a little wrapped up in trying to find where Cyrus was, took one second to listen to Lenore. He didn't really expect her to have such a great voice. He gave a small smile.  
Lenore turned around because of her dance moves, and he lowered his shades and gave her a wink, that made her blush, and she stammered the next lyric a bit.  
"I- _I lay back in a glittering mist,_  
 _And I, I think of all the men I, I could have kissed_  
 _I haven't lived my life, I haven't lived love,_  
 _It's just a bird's eye view from, from up above_ "  
Lenore finished strong with the final chorus, as her friends joined in with the singing.  
" _I'm living dead, dead, dead, dead_  
 _Only alive-live-live-live_  
 _When I pretend-tend-tend-tend_  
 _That I have died, died, died, died, died, died_  
 _I haven't lived life_  
 _I haven't lived love_  
 _Just bird's eye view_  
 _From the sky above_  
 _I'm dead, dead, dead, dead_  
 _I'm living dead, dead, dead, dead_  
 _Dead_ " Lenore, Ainsley, and Deidra all did their most impressive poses, as they panted when the song end.  
There was uproarious applause, including Lee, and two Glamazons (the two stopped when Brandy and Kimmie glared at them)  
~u~  
Lenore went backstage, and saw Lee get shoved to a wall by Biffy, and then climb up into the rafters after talking to him. Lenore thought nothing of it, figuring it was a Lee Ping spy thing.  
Lenore was absolutely fried with anxiety from her performance, and she honestly just wanted the whole day to just be over, and go back to normal. She thought it was stressful when she got detention, but after today, she'd rather have a detention sentence twice as long as Lee's is, than do that ever again.


	8. Completely Boring Uneventfulness

Lenore, as usual, entered the school with her friends and cousin, but she noticed Lee sitting in front of the lockers, and ditched them to meet up with him. She crouched down to his level, but soon noticed that he was VERY sick. She scooted back a little, and then talked.  
"Lee, you look sicker than a wet dog!" Lenore exclaimed, adding in a small look of pity.  
"I-" he sneezed "-know"  
"You shouldn't even be here, this place is so dirty, I'm sure it will only make you feel _worse_."  
"My mom wouldn't let me stay home, even if I was _dying_ , so…." Lee said, sneezing, and then almost sneezing, again.  
Lenore extended a hand to put on his shoulder, but Lee sneezed again and she quickly took it back. Lenore was quite the germaphobe, and didn't want to catch the Flu herself.  
"Anyways, I have to listen to this hypnotic prank song, to figure out what it's deal is."  
"Hypnotic?"  
"Yes, Lenore, hypnotic. It hypnotized you."  
"And _when_ did it do that?"  
"At the party on Friday?"  
Lenore tensed up, at the mention of the party. The first thing that flashed through her mind was the guy she'd slept with, and how much she'd regretted it. Lenore had found out, luckily, the guy didn't go to A. Nigma, so there was doubt that any rumors related to that would spread. Of course, even then, the school seemed to be more absorbed with making rumors about Lee and Lenore…which is why Brandy had been targeting Lenore even more so. Brandy seemed to want to keep a tight hold on Lee, for reasons of status, but Lenore, apparently, was throwing a wrench into that, which is why, Brandy had been doing little things, like tripping her in the hallway, or spreading rumors that Lenore has pimples on her back. Petty things.  
This surprised Lenore, as, to date, Lenore honestly thought she was pettier. Lenore, herself, has been the starter of a few rumors directed at people she doesn't like. And Lenore _did_ dance with Lee at the party, solely because she had been angry at Brandy pushing the two of them around, and trying to keep Lenore away. Lenore knew she was probably an awful person, however, so maybe that was the trait that made Lenore not as bad as Brandy.  
Lee, who was partially out of it, due to being sick, just blinked at Lenore's sudden tensing.  
"Even if it _does_ mess me up, I have to listen to it."  
"Hm." Lenore just commented. She yawned. It was still pretty early in the morning, and Lenore kinda drooped, and leaned on Lee. Of course, a sneeze from him, as well as a few people laughing and pointing quickly made Lenore back up. Lee sighed.  
"And it's not like it could make me feel any worse right now." Lee added onto his previous statement, which was rather fitting, since being completely ill, and being laughed at in the hallway did, indeed, make his mood not so great. He played the song and closed his eyes, to listen closely, and then he seemed to notice something. "What was that?" He was about to ask Lenore to listen, to see if she noticed, but then he remembered what had happened at the party, which made him change his mind on that. He didn't want Lenore to get jacked up like at the party, and throw some weird crazy fit, like Cyrus did the previous day. "Is someone saying 'switch the bag'?" Lee asked to himself.  
The bell rang, and Lee and Lenore went to class.  
~u~  
"I can't believe she ditched us!" Ainsley said, as she walked to class with Deidra "I mean, for crying out loud, we're the only ones who don't care about her TRASHY behavior!"  
"Eh…." Deidra didn't like the insults towards Lenore. "Maybe we shouldn't call her bad things behind her back…she isn't a bad person, Ainsley!" Deidra tilted her head. "She just has a…crush…" the last word made Deidra go to a more hushed tone.  
"All she seems to care about is her little 'crush' on Lee Ping! She didn't even notice or care about him before that god damn prank!" Ainsley entered the classroom and took her seat.  
"Well…she didn't have a reason to, he's not in the art club like us, and he tends to stick with his group of friends and…" Deidra trailed off, and Ainsley just gave her a bitter look, that kept her shut up for the rest of class.  
~u~  
First period of the day was full of sick kids, and Lenore's germphobic tendencies made her want to scream and run away. Lenore, now more than ever, tried to distract herself with drawing. She swore, when she got home, she was going to bathe herself, and all of her belongings, in hand sanitizer.  
On the school news, as you'd expect, they addressed the flu outbreak, and principal general Robocop ended up having a fit, live on air! Probably the most amusing thing that morning, except, well, the fact that no one was allowed to go home. The only thing more amusing than that, was maybe Chaz "Most Annoying Man in the World" Monarainian, flipping out about some "space zombie flu" type of bullshit. As if. There is NO SUCH THING as space zombies!  
Tina "Also Very Annoying" Kwee tried to assure everyone that Chaz was full of shit.  
After class was a warzone of sick. Lenore tried to catch up to Lee and his friends, but was stopped by Ainsley blocking her.  
"Ainsley, I need to catch up to Lee!"  
"No. I'm not going to let you! You keep _ditching us_ for that boy! We're supposed to be YOUR FRIENDS Lenore!"  
"This is not the time!" Lenore tried to find her way around Ainsley, but damn, Ainsley was tall, and rather bulky for a girl. Not _that_ bulky, as she was still fairly skinny, but Ainsley did have some muscle to her. Almost, as if, she could fight someone, if necessary. Not that it would be.  
Lenore, however was a tiny, and scrawny girl. Not as tiny as her cousin, Corona, or even her friend Deidra, but she was much shorter than her friend who was blocking her. Lenore tried to go around, but just bumped into Deidra.  
"Deids, c'mon, let me through!" Lenore whined.  
Deidra, who was very scared of confrontation, did as Lenore asked. Ainsley practically growled.  
"Deidra! We went over this! You weren't supposed to let her through!"  
"I'm sorry!" Deidra squeaked.  
Ainsley just sighed, and grumbled to herself.  
~u~  
It seemed, by the time Lenore had walked over to Lee and his friends, he was hallucinating from being sick. All Lenore could do was pity this poor boy. She wished she could hug him-nay-kiss him better-but of course that would just make her sick…and also she couldn't do that for OTHER obvious reasons.  
Lee's friends were being of no help to him, as they just seemed to back up in fear, whilst babbling about space zombies. Lenore was honestly in complete disbelief that the two of them actually BELIEVED Chaz's bullshit.  
Lenore just got closer to Lee.  
"Whoa, step back, Chiquita, or Lee will, like, chomp all over your cute Chiquita brains!" Cam tried to warn Lenore, who just looked at him and rolled her eyes, with a slight sigh.  
"You two CAN'T be serious." She crossed her arms.  
"There is no space zombie flu!" Tina walked over, and crossed her arms as well.  
"Wow, I can't believe I'm actually agreeing with Tina Kwee for once." Lenore commented to herself.  
Tina just glared at Lenore, and rolled her eyes. The two girls stared at one another with looks of absolute venom. The only thing missing would be Brandy, and then the trifecta of poisonous staring would be complete.  
"And Chaz is never right." Tina added in, turning her glare back to the two boys.  
"Oh really muchacha? Because I read ALL EIGHT books in the trilogy, uhn-kay? And everyone knows if you read it in a book, it has to be true."  
Both Tina and Lenore rolled their eyes.  
Then the hazmats came in and put in more cameras.  
Lee and Lenore both realized they were late for detention, and went.  
~u~  
At detention, nothing of interest was happening at first.  
Apparently, Biffy had double detention, AND his cat was apparently female and had kittens, so he was making more sweaters for them.  
"Lenore, cover your ears for a sec." Lee said to Lenore, and she did so.  
Lee played the song for Biffy to see if Biffy had noticed anything, but all that happened was the tazelworm nabbing Lee's phone. And then Lee went on a wild chase for it into the vents.  
Lenore assumed this meant she could take her fingers out of her ears.  
~u~  
Deidra and Ainsley were stuck with four kids they barely knew, while trying to escape the school. Of course, Deidra already knew one of them.  
Holger gasped. "Adorable kitty eared girl!" Holger hugged Deidra, who gave off a happy 'nya'.  
"I thought I'd never see you again!" Deidra giggled.  
"Holger thought the same! Holger is VERY happy to see you again." The Nordic ball of sunshine patted the much shorter weeaboo's fluffy hair.  
Cam was trying to think of what to do, and eventually due to Holger's suggestion, came to the conclusion to go to the roof.  
Holger eagerly grabbed Deidra's hand and pulled her up into a piggy back ride and took her with him.  
Ainsley rolled her eyes, and followed, tapping away on her cellphone.  
~u~  
They were well up the stairs when Cam peered into a hallway, and then did charades.  
"Popcorn is ready, but shoes are too tight" Holger guessed the meaning, but Cam just sighed.  
"No! Bro, the EXIT!" Cam gestured.  
They went into the hallway and were walking, when the bell rang, and sick students all came out, walking like zombies. Five out of six panicked, and the six, which was Ainsley, just thought they were all idiots.  
The idiotest of them, which was Chaz just threw himself on the ground, and started filming himself with his phone, as if he was actually going to die.  
"Will you shut up already!" Both Ainsley and Brandy said at the same time, and then shot each other weird glances. They were both in agreeance that Chaz was full of shit.  
"I'm supposed to be the drama queen!" Brandy said.  
Ainsley no longer agreed and just rolled her eyes, and went back to tapping away on her phone.  
Cam did more charades.  
"Ja. I would like the ham sandwich, thank you please!" said Holger.  
Cam just looked frustrated again.  
"NOOO! Grab those soakers bro!"  
Cam and Holger grabbed the soakers and started blasting anyone who was sick that came near them. Deidra hopped down from being piggybacking off Holger.  
They all ran out, and headed for the stairwell to the roof.  
~u~  
Cam had started sneezing. "No! It's not what you think man! It's Chaz's cheap cologne!"  
No one bought it. They all knew Cam was really getting sick.  
"What are you waiting for Holger! Soak him!" Chaz yelled at Holger.  
Holger didn't want to soak Cam. But he was being pressured.  
"Come on Holger, you want to go to the space zombie premiere thingy or whatever…SPRAY HIM!" Brandy yelled at Holger.  
Holger just looked down at the soaker, and made a sad "hm."  
"Holger want zombie mask." He said, still staring at the soaker.  
"Come on, do it! Put him back inside with the other zombies! It's the only way to stay safe!" Chaz said.  
Both sides (although the other side was literally just Cam) tried to argue on whether Holger should soak Cam or not. Holger stared at Deidra, expecting her to be the cat of wisdom.  
Deidra shrugged.  
Holger sighed. "Cam, you're my BFF til old man times, but…" Holger was about to soak Cam, when the bell rang, meaning school was over. The doors opened, and everyone ran out, while the six on the roof watched what was happening down there. Holger lowered the soaker.  
Chaz ran out and fell down the stairs, while Ainsley and Brandy also left.  
~u~  
Lee found himself passed out at a desk, with Lenore and Biffy literally staring at him. His phone fell out of the vents.  
The vice principal walked in, just as Lee had coincidentally been sneezing and coughing.  
"Goodness, Lee Ping, you go straight home, right this instant. You're way too sick for detention today."  
Lee left. Biffy attempted to convince the vice principal that he was also sick, to no avail, to which Lenore rolled her eyes. That was a boring detention day for Lenore, who just doodled in her sketch book.  
Just another, completely uneventful day. Just another, completely uneventful chapter.


	9. Great Googly Moogly It's Gone to Hell

Lenore walked into school only to have Deidra come running at her.  
"LENORE, ART CLUB MEETING!"  
"What?!"  
"Remember? We have to make the sets for the Founder's Day play!"  
"That's this week? Oh shit I forgot…" Lenore usually put all important things that the Art club was involved in on her calender-but seeing as this school year was _anything_ but normal, she hadn't had the time or energy to write down every little Art club event for that year. Of course, then reality hit her like a truck, when she remembered that she would have to be in the same room as _Beckett._ Lenore groaned, as Deidra dragged her by the arm into the art room.  
"Oh, Lenore." said someone with a thick British accent. Lenore groaned as she looked up at Beckett.  
He was a guy who looked sleazy enough, he was a senior, but already over 18. He was scrawny, had messy dark hair, and an almost completely bitter look to him. But somehow, this didn't keep him from smiling at Lenore in an almost creepy way.  
"Stop staring at me, Beck." Lenore replied in a bitter tone.  
Beckett took two steps closer to Lenore, who backed up. He took two more steps towards her, as she kept backing away. It essentially turned into almost a game-where she was backing away from him, and he was advancing on her. Eventually she was cornered however. Beckett got within inches of her face.  
"Lenore, even if you don't want to be around me, you're still a part of the art club. And I'm the president of it." He smirked.  
Lenore scrunched her nose in disgust. "Listen here, you lyin' cheater" Lenore growled under her breath. "You are a horrible leader. You're chasin' me around the room like some toddler, when you're supposed to be telling us what we're doing!" she told him off.  
Beckett frowned angrily, as Lenore was right. He turned around, and went toe the center of the room.  
Lenore stayed in the corner, however, as she didn't want to get any closer to him. Deidra and Ainsley joined her in the corner.  
Beckett explained what they'd be doing, and when they'd be meeting, when Lenore remembered that she had detention, so she raised her hand.  
"Yes, Lenore?" Beckett answered her in an artificially sweet tone.  
"I have detention." She said.  
And it was almost like that phrase was a cue, because VP Victoria walked in.  
"Miss Monday, seeing as you have your Art Club duties to attend to, you will be excused from detention. However, you'll have to make up the two days later on. Good luck with decorating for the play!" she walked out.  
Lenore cursed under her breath, as she hoped detention would have gotten her out of having to be around Beckett, not to mention, this was the _second time this week_ that her detention sentence had been extended because of events that she couldn't get out of.  
Soon the meeting was over, and Lenore headed to the first class of the day. She bumped into Lee.  
"Hey Lenore." He greeted her.  
But she ignored him.  
"Lenore?"  
"What do you want?" she turned around and snapped at him. However she realized who she was talking too. "Oh fuck…sorry Lee…"  
"What's wrong?" he asked, leaning against a locker.  
"Nothing." She said, lying through her teeth.  
"Certainly sounds like nothing." He replied sarcastically.  
"What? It's not like I'm obligated to tell you or anything."  
Lee backed off, cringing at this out of character display that Lenore seemed to be having. He took his seat. When the morning news started, Lee tried to focus on that instead of her.  
As usual Chaz was being narcissistic and annoying, and Tina was annoyed with him. Chaz was insulting Tina.  
Lenore wanted to bang her head on her desk. She slammed her face down, and everyone turned to look at her. She just kept her face down for the rest of class.  
~u~  
After class, she passed Lee and his friends talking in the hallway. Lenore met up with her own friends, as she groaned.  
"Are you that torn up over having to be around Beckett?" Ainsley asked in her usual emotionless drone, not looking up from her texting.  
Lenore just groaned again, pressing her face into the door of her locker.  
Deidra felt sympathetic for Lenore, and patted her hair.  
"There there, if Beckett tries to move in on you I'll claw his eyes out for trying to steal you from me! I mean-uh…Lee…from trying to steal you from-yeah…" Deidra awkwardly said.  
"Thanks Deids, but I'm not even dating Lee-Beckett would probably back off if-Hey that gives me an idea!" Lenore said optimistically, until she remembered. "Nevermind I forgot that Lee is in detention. And that he probably wouldn't agree to this plan anyways." Lenore said, thoughtfully.  
~u~  
Lenore painted a tree for the background, backstage as Beckett ordered other members of the Art Club around, Lenore wiped her paint covered hand on the giant T-shirt she was wearing over her clothes, as she heard the auditions going on, onstage.  
She heard Lee's friend Cam, announcing loudly that he was auditioning-just as he was cut off by Vice Principal Intimidation-telling him he'd gotten the part as the Tazelwurm. And cue Cam ranting about how the girls can't see him then.  
Then Chaz "Annoying" Monerainian-however the hell his last name is spelled-was up. Lenore turned up the volume on her iPod so his annoying voice wouldn't distract her from painting these leaves. She'd be damned if they weren't the most realistic, detailed leaves that you could ever see on a low budget school play prop.  
Of course, even with the volume on maximum, she could hear his terrible acting.  
And then Brandy. Lenore rolled her eyes. Of course the bratty rich girl changes the play. I mean come on, it was clear too Lenore that only _one_ thing mattered to Brandy Silver. And that one thing was, obviously, herself. Lenore was too busy loathing Brandy to notice that Beckett had walked right up to her.  
"Lenore." He said with a smirk.  
She was face to crotch with him. She scooted back.  
"Listen here Bec-I _know_ we had relations in the past but I'm _over you._ You _can't_ win me back, even if you tried everything." She stood up and walked away from him.  
He crossed his arms, and stared at her.  
Lenore saw that Deidra was watching something on the stage, and she looked. It was Holger dancing.  
"Oooh, Deidra, do you _like him_?" she put her hand on Deidra's shoulder, and Deidra noticed and tensed up. She turned around.  
"Noooooo…." She mewed innocently.  
Lenore playfully rolled her eyes and kept walking around backstage.  
Then she heard a commotion. She went to go see.  
Wait…was that Lee? In a terrible, completely unconvincing costume? What was he doing here? And more important, if he was going to be here, why didn't she get him to pretend to be her boyfriend while she was at it?  
But Lenore looked closer and saw that Lee clearly _did not_ want to be there. She tilted her head, and crossed her arms.  
She didn't even notice that Beckett walked up behind her and put his hands on her shoulder.  
He spun her around.  
"Oh Lenore." He smirked seductively. "We were made for each other." He said, gently pulling her face closer to his.  
Lenore glared a bit.  
"My _foot_ was made for your _ass_." She replied, indignantly, rolling her eyes.  
"But you see, ever since that day, Lenore, my sweet…I've missed you…You were meant to roll in the sheets with _me._ " He said wrapping his arms around her waist.  
Lenore would be pushing him away, but at the same time this was kinda…hot…Oh god, what was she thinking? She pulled back, and started walking away from him.  
"Don't be scared of me, Eleanor." He purred.  
Lenore's blood ran cold. "Don't call me that."  
"Sorry, love." He said. He walked back in front of her to be facing her. He pulled her face close, and their lips were an inch apart.  
Lenore wanted to push away, but at the same time, she almost couldn't resist him.  
His breath smelled of liquor-she wasn't surprised, he drank when she'd gone to her first party with him. She remembered he'd said something relating to how his pop drank a lot too-His pop, who was apparently some Rockstar in England. He'd also mentioned how he was the illegitimate child of the Rockstar and his mum. (Who was also British). Strange thing for him to be proud of, but he, and his mum, were, seeing as his surname was his father's last name rather than his own.  
Anyways, that irrelevant insight aside, Lenore gave in. Beckett kissed her.  
And right as that happened, Lee had walked backstage and stared at them in shock.  
To be continued…


End file.
